Second Chances
by goldencompass
Summary: Not everyone's lucky enough to get a second chance...FINAL Chapter up.
1. Default Chapter

A/N. I haven't watched this show in quite some time. Some of the details may be less than accurate. Think somewhere season 2. Totally bizarre premise, but I wanted to explore it nonetheless. It's really just for my own gratification. I must, however, give props for the main idea to N1 who used a similar construction in her OC fic the Mother's Day Gift, which is older and far better than mine. I do make allusions here to the fanon idea of Lucas being abused by his father.

Title: Second chances

Rating: PG

Investigating the ghost ship was pretty exciting, and most of the crew had been looking forward to it since they had stumbled across the vessel the day before. It had been difficult for the Captain to decide who was going to be on the landing party, the crew was fearless, and most of them wanted a place on the team. In the end he sent 5 of his Senior crew, making sure to include Lucas because the boy was practically vibrating he was so excited. He didn't expect much to come of the drifting ship; the landing party would investigate and report back within a few hours.

oooooooo

The team had split up once they reached the vessel – Ford and Ortiz went one way and Piccolo, Lucas and Henderson, the other. The first 20 minutes or so of the exploration had been uneventful and boring, and Lucas was hoping for something to happen quickly so he could stop listening to Tony tell his stories from the last shore leave. Nobody needed to know that much about their friends.

Lucas hurried forward when he spotted it. The science lab was straight ahead of them, and it looked to be in an interesting state of disarray.

"Guys! Check it out!" He said, rushing forward.

Henderson shot him a worried look "Lucas, be careful and watch your back, you never know what you're going to find."

Piccolo spoke into his PAL, "Ford, we've found the science lab. Looks like this might be a lead. Going to explore."

"Got it, over and out."

ooooooooo

Lucas was in the zone as he played around with the science equipment. He hadn't been able to get anything to function, most of the stuff had long since lost power, but this one laser-based machine that sat centralized in the lab like a piece of art looked promising. Sure enough it had only taken him 15 minutes of fidgeting and a laser beam activated, hitting the opposite wall and began to sweep the room, with no seeming effect.

Henderson activated her PAL; "Commander Ford, sir. I think you'll want to make your way to the lab, it seems Lucas has managed to get one of the machines working – "she was cut off as the laser swept over her, Lucas and Piccolo. Within seconds everything had changed.

The sound of Tony's laughter echoed in the room as he looked down at himself and across into one of the lab mirrors. _This is great!_ He thought, glancing in the mirror to see himself ten years earlier. The laser had instantly transformed him into a 20 year old. His mind was foggy, he knew this wasn't right, somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on why. In his mind he was 20 again. And what was he doing here?

He glanced around the room and spotted..._Henderson. That's it. I know I know her, but how? Who cares! She's hot...._

"What the hell is going on here?! Piccolo, Henderson? What happened?" Commander Ford's voice echoed through the room. Henderson and Piccolo looked at each other and then back to Ford, speechless.

Henderson looked down at her uniform.

"Seaquest,...right, I joined the UEO."

Ortiz ducked the laser beam and quickly shut down. "Well we know what this machine does. I bet there are a lot of people that would pay a lot of money to shave 10 years off their life."

Ford looked at them frustrated. And hit his PAL.

"Seaquest, this is Ford, Captain, we'll be headed back, and then straight to medbay."

"Medbay? Why?"

"Well, I think you need to see this to believe it."

"I'll meet you there then. Bridger out."

Ford turned to his comrades; Tony was fixing his hair in the mirror and flexing his biceps. Henderson was admiring herself as well, running her hands over her waist.

Ford snorted in disgust.

"Where's Wolenczk?" They all looked around and heard a muffled sound.

"Lucas!?"

Just then a small blond haired boy peeked out from behind one of the counters. "I-I'm here."

They all looked down at the child in shock. Of course. 10 years. Lucas would be six years old.

"Shit!" Ford exclaimed. The small boy clasped his hands over his ears. After a moment he brought a small finger to his lips. "Shhhhhh. You said a bad word Mr. Ford!"

oooooooooo

The captain paced back and forth in med bay waiting for his team, and breathed a sign of relief when he spotted commander ford looking healthy and mobile.

"What's the problem Comm—"he began, stopping short when he spotted Henderson and Piccolo. "Ah. Never mind, I think I get it. What the hell happened?"

Everyone began talked at once. Loudly. Nathan felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Captain."

"Wendy, what is it?"

She stood there, mouth agape, all she could do was point to the little boy peeking out from behind Ortiz' legs. As soon as Bridger's eyes fell on him, he hid his face once more.

"Lucas!"

TBC


	2. 2

A/N: This chapter's a little shorter. My apologies. It just kinda flowed that way.

Nathan paused just long enough to hear the skeleton details of what had happened aboard the ghost ship and then he was approaching Lucas, all signs of the tough world-weary Captain gone, and those fatherly instincts he was sure had disappeared when Robert did were quick on the rise.

Lucas had come out of his hiding spot and was staring around the lab. "I know this place." He said quietly to himself.

"As you should, you've spent a lot of time here." Bridger said, crouching down so that he was eye level with the boy. "Do you remember who I am, Lucas?" he knew that the memories were there, but they were foggy, almost at a distance.

"Yeah. You're the captain. And kinda like my dad on the ship." He replied with a small smile, referring to the fact that Nathan was now his guardian. Suddenly they boy's face fell, and he backed up, looking quickly all around him. "Is my old Dad here? He'll be mad at me."

"He's not here Lucas, there's nothing to worry about. There's nothing to be mad at you for."

"Yes there is," he said. Nathan could see his lower lip trembling as the boy fought to hide his emotions. "It was my fault. I did this because I was trying to figure out the laser based machine on the other boat."

"Lucas, we all know that you were just doing your job, ok? No one blames you, and we're all going to work to fix this. Speaking of which," he looked up at the others, "we should get to the wardroom and try and figure this out."

The meeting was running forever, it seemed. Ford was impatient with the whole situation, and Piccolo wasn't so sure he wanted to be turned back. Not everyone gets a chance to relive their 20s. Ideas were batted around for hours on how to fix the situation. Lucas had offered to go back to the ghost ship and try to reverse it with the machine. Dr. Smith had offered to do some research in her medical texts.

They were currently debating whether everyone could be allowed to go back to their stations – it wasn't just their bodies that were affected, they were all mentally some sort of hybrid between the present day selves and the younger versions they had been changed to. And from watching Lucas it was apparent that it was more entrenched the younger they were.

The Captain's eyes flicked around the table and stopped on the youngest crewmember. "I think we need to call it a night everyone." There were murmurs of protest, which he ignored, making his way towards the chair where Lucas was curled up fast asleep.

"Hey little buddy," he stage whispered, brushing the hair out of the boys eyes. "It's past your bedtime I'd say." Lucas opened his eyes slowly and sleepily and looked at him briefly. For a brief second Nathan's heart swelled when Lucas raised his arms up and circled his neck, silently asking to be carried to bed.

The captain reached down and lifted him, and Lucas rested his head on the man's shoulder and quickly fell back to sleep.

"Commander Ford," he asked quietly, "can you see that someone brings a cot into my quarters?" Jonathan looked at him quizzically, and Nathan gave a small nod towards Lucas. "He's 6 years old commander, he can't sleep in his own quarters by himself."

"Right. I'll get that done for you captain."


	3. 3

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for the reviews so far, as well as the constructive criticism. I agree that perhaps the beginning of the story was too rushed. I was trying to dive right into the sweet/cheesy Bridger and little!Lucas stuff. There are other little things as well, which is indicative of the fact that I am beta-less. I'm glad you're all able to overlook the flaws for the most part and enjoy the story!

* * *

The captain laid his charge down on the cot and Lucas remained fast asleep. He suddenly felt at a loss for what to do next. The kid shouldn't sleep in his clothes, but frankly he didn't know what other option there was. He practically said "A-Ha!" when the thought hit him. _Of course_.

Going through his wardrobe he fished out a T-shirt and mentally congratulated himself for his creative thinking. It was short-lived, however, and as he approached Lucas a wave of apprehension swept over him. He doubted the 16-year-old version would like the idea of the captain putting his pyjamas on for him once they got this whole mess resolved. Well, the 16-year-old version would have to suck it up, because the six year old below him looked mighty uncomfortable.

Once Lucas was changed and tucked in, Nathan sat down hard on his own bed with a deep sigh. To say that he was experiencing a mix of emotions would have been the largest understatement he had ever heard. On one hand, lying before him fast asleep at just after 9 pm, was his chief computer scientist. That was rather inconvenient. Genius or no, a 6 year old couldn't fill that post. And frankly, had no place on this ship.

He knew he'd be lying to himself if he denied that deep down inside somewhere a small part of him was happy to have this chance with Lucas. It was common knowledge throughout the ship, hell and a vast part of the UEO as well, that they had adopted each other as family – as father and son. To have this chance to be with Lucas as a small child would be a second chance for both of them. But realistically, not much of one. If Lucas wasn't changed back, he would not be allowed to remain on the ship; even in the best-case scenario where Nathan was given custody he'd be forced to ship Lucas upworld alone, or leave the seaaquest entirely.

But he couldn't concentrate on the what-ifs right now. The fact was that he had a small boy to take care of and a flagship to run. There were definite immediate needs to look after. Ford was on the bridge, and willing to extend his shift until Bridger could arrange for regular care for Lucas while he was on the job. In the meantime, everyone was doing what they could to try and correct the situation. The seaquest was staying near the abandoned ship incase access to the machine was vital, and Dr. Smith was looking into medical possibilities.

"Bridger to Dr. Smith."

"Smith here." The voice came over his PAL.

"Can you come to my quarters please? I'd like to discuss this situation a little further."

"I was just on my way to see you captain. I'll be there soon."

"I come bearing gifts," Wendy said, as she entered the Captain's quarters. "I had some clothes that I bought on the last shore-leave for my nephew. He's a little bigger than Lucas, but that won't be a big deal. And I knew a couple friends who had gone shopping with me had few things, so I managed to get you some clothes for him. Not a lot, but some."

Nathan raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn't even thought of that. "Thank you," he replied gratefully. "Look, Wendy, I was hoping you would do me a favour..." he trailed off.

"Shoot."

"Are you willing to watch him for me while I'm on duty? I can't say for sure how long this situation will last, and I know you have a lot of work to do..."

"I'd be glad to. He can help me around the lab. It won't be a problem. I am a little concerned about his emotional well-being, though."

"How so?"

"Well," the doctor began, "it's just that this accident has affected him the most drastically. Yes, the others have changed as well, but the differences between 6 and 16 are immense. If he stays in this state too long, will he be able to adjust to aging 10 years in seconds when we change him back? It's all so strange and it's hard to predict the outcome."

"Well, he certainly seems to have adjusted fine to regressing 10 years."

"That's the other thing that worries me," Wendy said with a frown.

TBC


	4. 4

Nathan thought over Wendy's concerns, as he got ready to settle in for the night. She thought there might be something more going on with Lucas than just the ramifications of the machine – that maybe Lucas himself was directing some of his behaviour.

"So you think he's purposefully acting younger on his own? That the machine isn't responsible for all of his regression?" he had asked her, eyebrows raised in puzzlement.

"I don't know Captain, it's really difficult to say at this early juncture. It's just a feeling I have."

"Well," Nathan said with a sigh, "I'll keep an eye out for any troubling behaviour. But I have to admit that I fail to see the problem, even if your concerns are founded. Lucas' has never really been a child. His parents have neglected him, only paying attention when it served their purposes. He went to college so young, and is surrounded by adults on this sub every day. He had been forced to grow up so fast, that I can understand why he'd embrace a chance to be a kid."

Dr. Smith had just pursed her lips and nodded thoughtfully. "I'll leave you two to your sleep." She said. And of course now that he had been left to his sleep it turned out to be very elusive. He couldn't help but get stuck on the events of the evening and kept rolling the problem around in his head looking for solutions until the wee hours of the morning.

He must have drifted off at some point, because he jerked awake to the sound of a loud thud. Had Lucas fallen out of bed? He glanced over to the cot – empty. ::thud::

"Morning Captain," came a chipper voice from his other side. There was Lucas, hanging from the bookshelf, tossing books from the top shelf onto the floor.

"Lucas, what are you doing? How'd you get up there?"

"I climbed up. It's not there far – technically I'm only three feet off the ground." He pointed to where his feet rested on the edge of the middle shelf. "I wanted to get at some of your science books, see if I can find any information that can help us fix this – hey!" he protested, as the captain grabbed him around the waist and set him down on the floor.

"I'd feel a lot better if you didn't scale the furniture, Lucas."

"Well I need to get at the books!"

"What else do you need?"

"That black biology text up top."

Handing it to the boy, Lucas added it to the pile he had on the table. "I figure these ought to keep me busy for a while."

"At least for today," Nathan said with a smile. "What do you say we go get some breakfast, we can drop these off at the lab on the way and you can go there to read them after we eat. Sit with Dr. Smith for a while?"

Lucas nodded in quiet agreement, and the Captain fought to keep the look of surprise off of his face. _What, no argument about being babysat?_

_oooooooooooo_

They reached the mess, and Lucas darted off into the crowds ahead of him. It was difficult to keep track of him amongst the crew now that he was so short. After a few minutes he caught sight of the blonde head at a table with Tony, Lonnie and Dr. Smith.

A few moments later he approached the table himself with trays for him and Lucas, setting it down in front of the boy, and grunting negatively at Piccolo and Henderson when they attempted to salute.

"Birds of a feather..." he mumbled quietly, glancing quickly at the three changed members of his crew around the table. Dr. Smith shot him a rueful smile.

"I'm not hungry." Lucas announced, pushing his tray away with authority.

"You need to eat, kiddo."

"I don't want to!" That was quickly approaching a whine. Goody.

"Why not?"

"It looks like throw up." Lucas said, swirling his spoon around and letting the food fall with a distinct _::gloop::_ noise. He shot the Captain a look that clearly said, _See?!_

"Thanks for sharing that thought, Lucas." Henderson said, staring at her plate forlornly. The boy smiled sarcastically.

"Look, Lucas, eat at least half and then maybe Tony will take you to Seadeck and you can go for a swim with Darwin?" He couldn't believe he was negotiating with a 6 year old. Had it been like this with Robert?

Lucas looked hopefully at Tony. "Sure thing Luke." Once the deal was made he dug into his breakfast, shovelling it into his mouth with one hand while the other pinched his nose closed.

The captain rolled his eyes and gave Tony a grateful smile.


	5. 5

A/N: Just for a slice of inspiration, go here: www dot jonathanbrandis dot org/ pictures/ annie07 dot html (if you can translate that,no spaces etc) because FF won't let me link of even type in an URL. But the picture is so cute! Awwwwwwwwww. (And ::sob::)

Is there something wrong with ff dot net? You've all spoiled me, and the fact that only one person has reviewed worries me. Pardon my egoism.

Nathan silently cursed the whole situation while he sat on the bridge watching the standard, rather tedious, operations of the ship while they cruised the water surrounding the ghost ship. By anyone's standards Nathan Bridger was a focused man, particularly when he was aboard one of his boats.

Today, everything seemed different. He found his thoughts drifting to Lucas, and he had to admit that he was irritating himself.

Plus, somewhere in the back of his mind, he had the feeling that he was somehow betraying Robert.

He hadn't been able to be there all the time when Robert was growing up, and while his love for his son was endless, he knew that he had never been overly preoccupied with his well being while on missions.

Of course, he also knew that he was being irrational. Comparing his relationships with Lucas and Robert was like comparing the sun and the moon. Both boys were equally a part of him, but each brought him different things. Comparing them would only disrespect both of them.

Besides, he had never had to worry this much about Robert because he had had Carol. Lucas was alone, had no one to worry about him except for himself. And apparently he was very good at doing just that.

"Are you all right, sir?" he heard O'Neill ask.

"Of course, why do you ask?" he shot an eyebrow the communication officer's way.

"Well, sir, you're pacing the bridge. You've been doing it for twenty minutes or so."

Nathan sighed. "So I have. Commander Ford, you have the bridge."

He accepted his defeat and headed to the seadeck where he hoped to find Tony and Lucas still swimming. As he approached he could hear the shrieking laughter of the little boy and lots of splashing.

He stood in the doorway for some time, just watching the small group. Darwin had taken to swimming underneath Lucas and getting him on his back for a few seconds before quickly diving underneath the water unexpectedly, causing Lucas to yell out in surprise every time.

Nathan smiled to himself as Lucas sneaked up on an unsuspecting Tony and proceeded to splash the man right in the face with as much strength as he could muster.

"Oh you better watch out now, buddy. You asked for it!"

High-pitched laughter once again filled the air. In his attempt to get away from Tony, Lucas exited the pool and began running around the deck. As he watched his charge, Nathan knew that no matter what Wendy's concerns, _this_ was certainly not the action of a 16 year old. If his teenaged mindset were running this show, he wouldn't be running around seadeck in nothing but his underwear. Immodesty was a characteristic that only small children possessed.

"Lucas," he said, making his presence known, "don't run. You're going to fall and get hurt. You never run around a pool, ok?"

"Ok Captain," the boy said as he slowed to calculated speed walk and headed in Nathan's direction.

"Tony, why is Lucas running around in his underwear?" he asked as Lucas ducked behind him and hid, pressing himself into the back of Bridger's legs.

Tony stalked quietly forward. "He didn't have any swimming trunks, sir, and none of the wet suits were gonna fit, so I figured that was the best thing. That's what we did when I was small and was stuck without swim trunks." The younger man never took his eyes off the small hands that grasped the captain's pants.

In one quick movement Tony jumped behind the Captain, causing Lucas the shriek and move around to the front. Soon they were in a dead chase, with the Captain in the middle.

Water was getting everywhere, and it didn't help that he had a 4 foot nothing soggy bundle climbing all over him. Indeed he could feel his uniform getting more wet by the second.

"Lucas, you need to slow down you're soaking me."

His request was met with laughter, and Lucas grabbed the Captains hands yelling "Save me Captain, save me!" and then took off again.

"Lucas I'm really wet. Move away..."

It didn't look the boy had even heard him.

"Lucas!" he said loudly. Instantly the boy froze, backing away from the Captain.

"I just don't want you to get me any more wet." Lucas wouldn't meet his eyes, and was examining his fingers in great detail. Bridger could see his lower lip trembling.

"I-I'm sorry, sir. Sorry Mr. Piccolo." He whispered. Tony shot the captain a confused look.

"Lucas, it's not that big of a deal, I just..." as Bridger took a step forward he saw Lucas flinch slightly and tense up.

_Oh No. Nononononono._ Now it was Nathan's turn to freeze, horrified at Lucas' instinctual actions and what they might mean.

He motioned to Tony to hand him a towel, and knelt down and quietly wrapped it around Lucas.

"You ok, buddy?" he asked as he began drying Lucas off. He noticed the minute shaking of the head and the tears that had begun streaming down his face. And Lucas was trying so hard to gain some control.

The Captain draped the towel over Lucas' shoulders and lifted the boy's chin. "What's wrong? You seem frightened, Lucas."

Silence.

"No ones going to hurt you, Lucas. Is that what you're afraid of?"

With that question Lucas' broke, and began quietly sobbing and gasping for air.

Reaching over he picked Lucas up in his arms, and the boy buried his face in Bridger's neck. He was still crying, and Nathan could feel the hot tears.

"Picollo, please go get dressed and inform Commander Ford on the bridge that I've got important business that can't wait, and will be leaving the bridge to him for a few hours."

"Yessir."

With that, he turned his attention back to the child in his arms. "It's ok little one, let it all out."

TBC, if there are enough reviews! Heh.


	6. 6

**A/N: **Hey guys! Sorry for the long time between updates, life's been keeping me busy. But I wanted to get you a new chapter before I head off for the long weekend. There's not a lot of action in this chapter, but it's very important in moving the story along. Hope you like it. It'll be a few more days before I get to another chapter.

----------

The Captain received many strange looks while he took Lucas back to his quarters. He guessed he could forgive the crew; it wasn't every day you saw your Captain parading around the boat with a sobbing child. Indeed, despite the 10 minutes he had stayed on Seadeck – hoping Darwin would cheer up Lucas – by the time he had reached his quarters he could still feel Lucas trembling against him, and the tears still warm on his neck.

Nathan had to admit that he was at a loss. Nothing had prepared him for this; it had been a very long time since he had needed to comfort a crying child and the fear that he had forgotten how held him in it's grip. He hoped that parenting was instinctual.

"Do you want to talk about it, kiddo?" he asked quietly. Lucas had shaken his head vigorously before he had even finished asking. As Lucas began untangling himself, Nathan caught himself holding his breath. He could almost see the physical change instantly come over Lucas as he composed himself.

"I wasn't angry with you Lucas. Yes, I was loud, and yelled, but I was mostly trying to get your attention. And I would never, ever hurt you. "

Lucas said nothing, and went back to examining his fingers, occasionally flicking a glance the Captain's way.

"Like I said back on seadeck, you seemed frightened Lucas. I know it might be hard for you to understand, but no one has the right to hurt you. No one. And you can tell me anything, kiddo." Lucas still wasn't looking at him. He took a deep breath. "Has anyone hurt you before, Lucas?"

The silence was deafening. He wasn't sure what he was waiting to hear. A Yes answer meant his fears confirmed. But a No answer likely wouldn't erase those fears, it would just make him suspect that Lucas was lying. After 10 minutes of waiting, watching Lucas fidget and shift and avoid looking at him, the Captain had to accept that Lucas wasn't going to answer him one way or the other; at least not now.

"Why don't we go back to your quarters, get you changed, and I can sit with you for a bit before I head back to the bridge?"

----------

The Captain tried for more than 30 minutes to engage Lucas in activity or conversation of any sort, but Nathan knew he had to get back to the bridge. Turning to where Lucas was sitting on the bed, he said,

"Kiddo, I don't want to leave right now, but I have a job to do on the bridge and I have to get back to it. I'll take you down to the lab; you can work on some of your experiments, projects, whatever you want to call them. I promise to come see you when my shift is up, all right?"

He thought he saw tears in Lucas' eyes, but he couldn't be sure. After a few seconds, the boy nodded.

---------

After half an hour back on the bridge, Nathan got a panicked call from Dr. Smith.

"Captain?!"

"What is it Dr. Smith?"

"I can't find Lucas."

"What do you mean, you can't find Lucas?"

"Exactly what I said, sir. He's disappeared. I searched the lab, he's not here anywhere."

"Thank you Dr. I'll find him."

"Ford –"

"Yessir."

With that, Nathan headed for the clam doors. He rushed down the corridor, but quickly came to an abrupt halt. There, sitting cross-legged against the wall was Lucas. He was scribbling on paper, likely doing some mathematical equations or programming code, if Nathan had to guess.

"Lucas?"

The small blond head shot up from where Lucas was focused on his work. Bridger could see a momentary panic in those blue eyes, but it disappeared just as quickly as it arrived.

"What are you doing here?"

Silence.

"You're going to have to talk to me sometime you know..."

Silence.

Nathan sighed. "All right. Let's get you back to the lab."

After the 4th call from Dr. Smith, and the fourth time finding Lucas in the exact same spot outside the bridge, the Captain gave up.

"Come on then," he said, leading the boy onto the bridge. He was sure he had likely broken 1,235 UEP regulations all at once by allowing Lucas on to the bridge, but at least this way he could keep an eye on him.

He took Lucas over to an empty chair. "Sit there. No moving from that spot. Don't touch anything, got it buddy?" He was greeted by silent agreement by Lucas.

-----------

Nathan barely got a minute alone that day, and every time he did, Lucas was waiting nearby somewhere. It was like the boy was determined to surgically attach himself to the Captain. By early in the evening it was starting to wear thin.

"Let's go Lucas, we're going to see Wendy."

Striding into the lab and lifting Lucas onto the examining table in one swift movement, the Captain called for the doctor.

"What is it, Captain?"

"I think we've got some separation anxiety, here. I need your help. Something's obviously troubling Lucas, but I can't get him to talk to me." Nathan's eyes never left Lucas'.

"Captain, I want to help, but my background in psychology is hardly strong..."

"Maybe not, but you do have other gifts." He said quietly.

"You're asking me to –"

"Yes, I am. I know you'd rather not, but I really need your help."

"All right, but I don't like it."

"Dissent noted, Dr."

And with that, Dr. Wendy Smith closed her eyes and concentrated on touching Lucas' mind.


	7. 7

Nathan could see the concentration on the Doctor's face; her gift would certainly give him more insight into Lucas than he currently had. Something was better than nothing.

When she finally stopped, Wendy's face was stricken. "Can we talk in the other room, Captain?" Bridger stole a glance at Lucas. "He'll stay here, don't worry," the doctor assured him.

"Well?" he asked, as soon as they were out of earshot.

"He certainly didn't resist, in fact, I'd say he was trying to help me see into him. Like he was trying to show me." She sat down on the top of her desk. "He's scared Captain."

"Well I knew that already Wendy."

"Now wait. He's scared that he's going to lose you, that you'll abandon him. I'd guess that's why he's practically sewn to your hip today. It seems like something happened today and now he's afraid you don't care about him any more." The Captain just sat there, digesting this information, his lips forming a tight, thin line. "To me, when I see that fear, it's the fear of the Lucas we know, the teenager, not the 6 year old." The Captain's eyes met hers, and he was sure that he was betraying his emotions.

"I should go talk to him." Nathan said quietly, standing up. To be truthful, he had no idea what to say to Lucas. How much of the teenager was part of the child crying on his shoulder that morning? Not that it mattered. If Lucas at 16 had come to him sobbing, well, he would have comforted him.

"Captain, there's one more thing." Nathan felt himself pale a little. "There were feelings, quick flips of images, and things that suggested some serious pain captain. Be careful with him. I think he might be dealing with more than we expect."

"Thank you for helping Doctor. I'm very grateful."

------------------

He walked slowly out to where Lucas was still seated on the examining table, only now he had pulled his legs up and was sitting cross legged, staring at some papers in his hand. Bridger couldn't help but stop and watch the determination and pure passion that swept over the boy's face as he examined his work. He face bore the look of a genius, while his posture was very child-like. It was enough to rip Nathan's mind back to the moment and the issue at hand.

"Hi kiddo." He could tell that Lucas was nervous, wondering how he would react to what the boy had revealed to them. He was guarded, but he was still hopeful.

"I think we need to talk huh? I'm not sure to talk to you as you are, a 6 year old, or as you were, a 16 year old. I know both parts of you are still in there, though they might be all muddled and mixed." He leaned over and brushed the hair off of Lucas' forehead, and then rested his hands on the boys knees.

"I'm not going to leave you, Lucas. I mean, there may be times where I have to go away for a while, but I'll always be back. They'd have to drag me away from you with horses." This won a small smile from Lucas' clearly amused at the thought. "And I know that right now you need to work some stuff out. But I want you to know something. You don't have to be a little boy to need someone, to get comforted, to need. That's human nature, kiddo. I think you've grown up too fast, and never got to be a little kid. Maybe that's why you embraced this change so easily?"

Lucas said nothing, but the tinge of red that crept over his cheeks gave him away. Nathan leant over and tipped Lucas' face up so he could once again meet his eyes. "I also know that a lot of this is way out of your control. No one's judging you Lucas, especially not me."

"You promise?" Lucas asked with a smile.

"Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Bridger made the crossing motions over his heart.


	8. 8

When he had finished talking to Lucas, the boy had wanted to run off to find Tony. It was the chance to enjoy the first moment without Lucas all day. Well, it would have been, but Dr. Smith had made it clear she wanted to speak with him further.

"He's a little fragile right now, isn't he?" she asked.

"I think he's all kinds of mixed up, caught between the two ages, unable to control some behaviour, and not really wanting to control the others. Not to mention being embarrassed about the whole thing. It's been a hell of a long day Wendy – can you just tell me what you need to tell me?"

"Well, it's good news, or will hopefully lead to good news. I've been doing research on the machine that caused all t his, and I've located the name of one of the leading researchers in the field of age reversal. I'm hoping he'll be able to help us figure out this mystery and what caused it, and more importantly, how to fix it."

"So you haven't talked to him yet?"

"No, I wanted to get you up to speed before I made a move."

"At first convenience, please give him a call and brief him on our situation."

"Will do, sir."

With the first light news of the day, the Captain exited Medbay and stopped short.

"Oh, Lucas." He said when he spotted the small blond head bowed over a book. "I thought you went off to find Tony?"

A blush rose over Lucas' face as he looked up. "He wasn't there." He raised his chin and looked defiantly at Bridger. He looked so determined, Nathan had to bite his tongue so that he didn't smile or laugh at the boy. He chose not to push the issue any further.

"I think it's time we get you ready for bed."

"I'm too tired to walk all the way there. My legs are littler than yours."

Fully grinning now, Bridger raised an eyebrow at Lucas. "Oh? Well how would you suggest we get you back to quarters?"

Bright blue eyes sparkling, Lucas solemnly said, "I think a piggyback ride would work out just fine."

"I'll do ya one better kiddo," he responded, and with a quick motion grabbed Lucas under his arms and set the boy atop his shoulders.

As he walked them both towards their quarters, Nathan heard Lucas say in quiet awe "Captain, I can reach the ceiling from up here!"

00000000

Despite having put Lucas to bed many hours earlier, the Captain himself didn't get to sleep until the very early hours of the morning. Indeed, it seemed like he had barely shut his eyes when he felt movement at the foot of his bed.

'I'm just going to completely ignore that' he thought to himself and willed himself back to dreams.

He felt a small finger poked him on the cheek. 'No. Just no.'

"Captain?" Lucas was trying to whisper, Bridger could tell. It didn't make him feel anymore rested.

"Sir? You awake?" Bridger opened his eyes just enough to peek through his lashes. It was pretty hard to resist the sight before him. There was Lucas, kneeling beside him in the oversized T-shirt. He leaned in towards the Captain's ear, his hand cupped around his mouth like a tunnel and whispered again,

"Caaaaaptain." He was elongating vowels. It was time to give in. But not without a fight.

"Ok kiddo what are you doing waking me up?" he growled, scooping up the boy, flipping him over and tickling him mercilessly. He was instantly rewarded with high-pitched giggling. He could swear he felt his great grow to the sound of Lucas' laughter.

"Ca-capt-captain" Lucas gasped out between giggles, "I give up!"

"I thought you would. So what is so important that you felt the need to wake me up so early in the morning?"

"Um, I wanted to go play on my computer in my quarters for a while, work on some projects…"

"The vocoder?"

Lucas looked away. "Maybe just some of the vocabulary files. I'm not really sure of some of the other stuff anymore. I remember that I knew it once, but it's just a little too hard."

Bridger pushed the bangs off of Lucas' face and looked him in the eyes. "Don't feel bad about that Lucas. Things have changed a lot for you in the last couple days. You'll get your science back when you get back to your usual self."

Lucas just stared at him for a moment, and Nathan thought he saw something there. A difference in his eyes, a sign of maturity. He was thus completely caught off guard when Lucas wrapped his arms around his neck and hugged him. And then he was off and running to get changed.


	9. 9

**A/N: **While I was writing this chapter I remembered that on Star Trek: The Next Generation there was a storyline that made Picard, Roe and Guinan into 11 year olds. I'm not the only insane one! And that episode aired on television! HA!

----------

"Captain there's a call for you from a Dr. Gravel."

"Put it on screen O'Neil, I'm expecting him."

"Captain Bridger! Hello!" Bridger was greeted by the smiling face of an older man who looked like he was in the midst of some very messy work. Chaos seemed to control his workspace from what Bridger could see on the vidscreen.

"Doctor. Thank you for calling. I trust that you have spoken to Dr. Smith?"

"Yes, she briefed me on your situation this morning. I have to say, I was quite taken aback. This type of uncontrolled regression hasn't happened in quite some time."

"But can you reverse it?"

"I have high hopes, Captain, but I'd really need to be able to see the machine that was used. The technology of age reversal science is fast moving, and I can't be sure of what I'm working with at a distance."

"That's not a problem, Doctor, we'd be glad to have you aboard. With your permission, I will send a shuttle to retrieve you and bring you back to Seaquest."

"Thank you Captain, that would be ideal."

"Bridger out."

000000000000

Nathan lingered in the door of medbay for sometime, watching Lucas at work. He had come to let Wendy know the good news of Dr. Gravel's impending arrival, but suddenly felt less happy about it once he set his eyes on the boy. He could understand why ships were not a place for family. It was becoming ridiculously hard to be objective about the situation before them. With every passing minute Bridger grew more attached to Lucas' as his own son, a child that he could raise and give a second chance at a loving father who paid attention to him. But he also knew that this was selfish. Lucas had parents. Even if things stayed this way, Lucas wouldn't be his. It would be wrong to wish this on the boy just for his own selfish reasons.

Breaking out of his reverie, he walked into medbay, ruffling Lucas' hair on the way by his station, and noting the wide grin he received in return.

"Dr. Smith!"  
"Captain! To what do we owe this pleasure?"  
"Have you come to get me? Are you done on the bridge?", Lucas asked.  
"Not yet, champ. I'll be done by dinner." He could see Lucas fighting the urge to pout. "Actually, I came by because I talked to Dr. Gravel. He's agreed to come aboard, he'll arrive tomorrow."  
"Oh that's perfect, I was hoping we could get started soon." Dr. Smith replied in return.  
"Well, it's thanks to your research that we located him" Nathan said, smiling.  
Behind them, Lucas frowned.  
"Captain, can I come back to the bridge with you?"  
"I'm afraid not Lucas."  
"Why not?"  
"Because the bridge is not a place for little boys."  
"But I'm not like other kids; maybe I can help with something. Please?"  
"I know you're still nervous about being away from me Lucas, but you have to try, ok?"  
"But I was up there before, why can't I go this time?" Bridger could see the colour rise in the little boys' cheeks, and his eyes go watery. This wasn't going to end well. He steeled himself.  
"Because I said no, Lucas, and that's the end of it." His voice softening, he added, "When I'm done on the bridge, we'll go eat. They're having spaghetti tonight in the mess."

Seeing the anger rising in Lucas he muttered quietly to Wendy, "Here it comes."  
Lucas climbed down from his stool and looked up at the captain. "I don't wanna go eat with you! I just wanted to spend time with you and I wasn't going to do anything wrong! You're mean!"  
"And there he goes," Bridger muttered again as Lucas fled the room. "Come in Commander Ford."  
"Ford here."  
"Is Darwin in the moonpool?"  
"He is, sir."  
"Tell him to find Lucas, please and stay with him."  
"Yes sir."

"What were those dramatics all about?" Wendy asked with a smile in her voice.  
"He's testing me. Seeing how far he can push."  
"Did you pass?"  
"Ask me when he's 35, and we'll see." Nathan replied with a wry smile.

0000000

Once he was done his shift it had taken him half an hour and two looks through sea deck before he found Lucas, huddled behind some cargo tubs in a corner.

"Hey kiddo."

"Go away."

"You're still mad at me, huh?"

"Yes! Why were you so mean?"

"I wasn't being mean Lucas, I was being a grown up who has a little boy to take care of." He sat down on the floor beside Lucas, knowing this might be a long conversation. "It's my job to keep you safe and make sure that you're not in situations that aren't good for you."

Lucas just looked down at the floor and said nothing. Nathan was willing to bet that his original run through childhood had been just as frustrating. Small children operate on need, want, a very self-centred universe. Lucas must have struggled then, as he did now, to fight between instinct and intellect. The average child part of him just wanted his demands met, but the genius part of him surely understood what Bridger was saying and why. He had to wonder if Lucas' father had mislabelled him a teenaged discipline problem solely because he expected Lucas to act his IQ and not his age.

"I know how to take care of myself, Captain." Lucas said suddenly. Quieter, he added, "Really, I'll be ok alone." Bridger could hear the 16 year old in that statement.

"But you're not alone, son. Let me be here for you."

Lucas sighed, reached out his hand and allowed himself to be lead towards the mess.


	10. 10

An unidentified noise woke him, and as Nathan lay in bed, eyes still closed but wide-awake, he wondered when the last time he got a full night's sleep was. _If I just lay here I might drift off to sleep again_, he thought. That's when he heard the quiet crying from the other side of the room.

Bleary eyed he peered in the direction the noise was coming from, but couldn't see anything. "Lucas?" He heard the boy take a deep breath and try to stop crying, but he was highly unsuccessful. Indeed, it seemed that the crying got more desperate.

Turning on the lights, Bridger swept his eyes across the room. He saw the empty cot first and then quickly scanned until he saw Lucas crouched in a corner of the room by the door to their quarters. "Oh, Lucas," he says quietly as he approaches the boy.

The instant he gets within hands reach, Lucas tries to back away, but quickly discovers he is already as far as he can go. Nathan can see him shaking.

"Lucas, what happened? What's wrong?"

More tears meet his question, but Lucas gives no answer. He moves to comfort Lucas and he can see the flinch, tenseness settling over the boy's body.

"Hey, hey. It's ok. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

Lucas still doesn't speak or even look at the Captain; he just raises one hand and points to the cot where he was sleeping. Puzzled, Bridger looks over to the cot and the back at Lucas. "What is it? Are you worried there are monsters under your bed? How about I go look?" he says with a small smile.

As he approaches the cot, Nathan can see (and smell) immediately what has happened. The wet stain in the middle of the bed, the 6 year old sleeping there, it seems so obvious now. Turning back to Lucas, he asks "Did you wet the bed, Champ?"

"I -I'm sorry! I didn't mean to." His voice was quiet but pleading.

"I know, little one, I know. Why are you so upset?" as he moved closer, Lucas flinched again, and held out his hand. Nathan stopped in his tracks when he saw that the boy was holding one of his belts.

"Lucas," his voice low and controlled, "why do you have that?"

"I was bad. Aren't you gonna dis-dis…" he couldn't say the word between his sobs.

"Lucas, you didn't do anything bad, and even if you did need to be disciplined, why would I need the belt?" Bridger asked, already fearing the answer.

"That's what my daddy did when I wet the bed before." Nathan felt his knees go weak.

He didn't want to ask questions that were leading, but he needed to know the truth. "What did he do with the belt Lucas?"

"When I was bad he'd make me get his belt and then he would hit me with it. Sometimes he'd use his hands, and hangers and other stuff."

"Put the belt on the floor ok? What your dad did wasn't right Lucas. He hurt you physically. Grown ups aren't supposed to hurt children."

"I know, but it's different with me. Smart kids aren't supposed to do stupid things."

"You're not stupid Lucas," Nathan said, managing to get a little closer to the boy. "Kids wet the bed all the time when they're small. Their bodies just can't keep up. Please put the belt down and let me come closer. I'm not angry and I'm not going to hurt you."

Lucas began crying again, but he did put the belt down. The instant it hit the floor, Bridger grabbed Lucas and pulled him to him.

"Please don't touch me. I'm dirty and disgusting."

With that, Nathan pulled the trembling child into his lap. "You're not disgusting. Yes, you're wet, but the only thing that'll hurt is our clothes, and clothes are not important right now." Lucas was still stiff and trying desperately not to touch the Captain.

"Just relax buddy, it's ok." He felt Lucas settle into him a little, but much of his body was still tense, ready in fight or flight mode.

"I wasn't supposed to say anything to anyone. Now I'm going to be in trouble." Nathan could tell the boy was terrified.

"I have to ask you an important question Lucas, and I know it will be hard for you to answer, but you can just say yes or no, alright?"

"Ok."

"You know that before the accident on the abandoned ship you were different. Older."

Lucas nodded, listening.

"Do you remember whether your father still punished you in the same way? I mean, did it stop at any point?"

"Yes. He couldn't discipline me when I was on the Seaquest. It didn't happen then."

Nathan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "And when you go home on leave?"

"It doesn't matter, Captain. It's not a big deal, it's just my father's way. It doesn't even happen that much because I don't go home very often." Bridger could instantly tell the difference in tone and body language. This was very much _his_ Lucas, well, his original Lucas.

Settling the boy on his feet, Nathan knelt down in front of him and caught his eye.

"It is a big deal Lucas. Your father is hurting you, you've done nothing to deserve that. Hurting your child is wrong when they are any age. Doesn't matter if it's 6 or 16."

Lucas looked down at the floor, wrapping his arms around himself. Nathan could see the tears running down his face.

"I'm tired of being such a crybaby."

"You're dealing with a lot right now, champ. It's normal to cry when you feel strong emotions. I cry sometimes."

Lucas' head shot up, and he looked at the Captain in wide-eyed shock. "You do?"

"Yes, I do." He responded, and brushed s stray tear off Lucas' cheek. With that simple motion it was like a dam had been broken and the small boy standing in front of him broke down in sobs. He choked out a question between his tears.

"He doesn't hate you Lucas, and you didn't do anything to make him act the way he does. It's his problem and his fault. He doesn't hate you. It'd be impossible to hate you, Lucas. I know it seems hard to believe, but he does love you. And I love you. I want you to know that, ok?"

"I love you too, Captain."


	11. 11

**Author's Notes: **Oh man it's been a long time. Hopefully I haven't lost you guys. I didn't plan to take that long of a hiatus from this story, but I guess the last chapter was a bit of a turning point and I let it go on too long. But I'm back, with a plan for the rest of the story. Thanks for your patience! (and reviews, hint hint, hint).

Nathan wasn't sure how long they had been awake. He'd gotten Lucas showered and into a clean T-shirt, and had tried to get him to bed, but it was taking longer than he expected. Lucas was fighting sleep every step of the way. Eventually he pulled a book off the shelf – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, no less – and began to read out loud. Surely the story would put the boy to sleep.

Sure enough, within 20 minutes Lucas was fast asleep. Bridger couldn't help just watching him, looking so peaceful, so small. During the first tour with the Seaquest he had taken to stopping by Lucas' quarters and checking on the boy while he was sleeping. Even then it was always a stark reminder of how young Lucas was. He still did it once and a while, and if Tony was there and caught him in the act he made up some excuse. He was fairly sure the seaman didn't buy a single word of it. Even then, before knowing all of this, he had the instinct to make sure that Lucas was safe. The fact that he had been anything but for most of his life, caused overwhelming emotions to rise within Nathan.

Taking out his PAL he paged Dr. Smith.

"Dr. Smith here"

"Wendy, it's Nathan. Can you come to my quarters right away?"

"On my way, Captain."

As soon as he heard the knock on his door, Nathan sprang to answer it. He had finally gotten Lucas to sleep, and didn't want to risk waking the boy.

He greeted Wendy with a finger on his lips to indicate the necessary quiet and nodded pointedly in Lucas' direction.

Wendy, seeing Lucas in the Captain's bunk, and the dishevelled, worn appearance of the man in front of her, gave a questioning look.

"Captain...?" she questioned.

"I'll have to explain later. Do you mind staying with him for a while? I'll really owe you one for this Wendy."

"It's not a problem at all. Everyone needs a break sometimes Captain," she smiled.

"He shouldn't wake up, but if he does, promise him I haven't left him, and that I'll be right back. And call my PAL right away."

"Sure thing."

And with one last look at the small child curled up in his bunk, the Captain headed out the door.

Xxxxxxxxx

Just off shift and on the way to his quarters, Tony Piccalo was wandering the Seaquest's corridors. As he passed by the fitness room, he was surprised to see the lights on – few crewmembers used their late nights to work out, preferring poker or sleeping over exercise. He couldn't say he blamed them.

He paused outside the door. Not only were the lights on, but whomever was in the was working out very..._loudly._ Giving in to his curiosity he opened the door and looked in. To his surprise, he was greeted by the sight of the Captain, clad only in boxer shorts and a T-shirt, pounding away bare handed on the punching bag. Seeing the raw anger on the man's face, Tony almost backed away quietly, not really wanting to be on the receiving end. But before he could, he heard himself call out,

"Captain?" he cursed himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Nathan spun around; anger still all over his face.

"Um I – I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just saw the lights on and wondered..." he trailed off, the excuse sounding lame even to his own ears."

"It's ok Piccalo. Please, come in. Don't let me keep you from your own workout."

Tony watched for a moment as the Captain flexed and stretched his hands, seeing his bruised and red knuckles. "I don't mean to pry, sir, but are you ok?"

Nathan mumbled non-committally. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, not many people go pounding at the bag that hard without wrapping their hands first." He replied flicking his eyes back at Bridger's hands.

Nathan looked down as well. "Hmm, they do look pretty awful. Thanks for your concern." He paused looking at the younger man thoughtfully. "Someone I care very deeply for – someone I love – has been hurt, and I didn't know about it. They did nothing to deserve it. I guess I'm very angry."

"I bet! My Aunt's husband used to beat on her all the time. I had no idea, and when I found out, I went over to her house and kicked his ass. It felt great. I guess you can't really do that, though, being a UEO Captain and all."

"It certainly wouldn't look good, no." Bridger smiled ruefully. "However, if this person were here right now, I don't think it would stop me."

"I feel you, Cap. I feel you. But I'll let you get back to it."

"I think I'm finished here, actually. Thank you, Tony. And I'll make sure to wrap my hands next time."

"I hope you won't need a next time, Cap."

Xxxxxxxxxxxx


	12. 12

Bridger tiptoed into his cabin as quietly as he could mentally crossing his fingers and hoping that Lucas was still asleep. A quick glance to his bunk showed a small, snoring blond bundle, and Nathan let out the breath he was holding.

Hearing him enter, Wendy glanced up from her paper work and gave him a smile. The smile disappeared quickly when she spotted the damage he had done to his knuckles.

Before she could even say anything, he cut her off. "It's nothing, Doctor. Really."

"It certainly looks like something to me, Captain."

He dismissed her concerns with a wave, and then realized that he was only drawing more attention to his bruised and bloody hands. Tucking them behind his back, he turned to her and said "I promise to come see you as soon as I can in the morning for some anti-bacterial spray."

Her mouth set in a firm line, she agreed. "But really, Captain. Obviously there's something going on. I can even sense the heavy emotions that are rolling off of you."

This fact wasn't lost on Bridger. Usually Wendy couldn't read him, his own abilities, however deeply set, were at the very least a good block from psychic readings. Except for now apparently.

He sighed audibly. He really couldn't stand to rehash what was going on with Lucas. He knew he'd need to tell Wendy, Lucas would need to be examined, but it could wait until morning.

"I promise to tell you in the morning. Suffice it to say, we need to talk." Slipping a glace towards Lucas, "How's my boy?"

Wendy couldn't help but raise a questioning eyebrow at that, but hearing the tenderness and genuine concern in Bridger's voice, she stuffed her thoughts down. "He's fine, Captain. He murmured a little, called for you once, but didn't wake."

"Thanks again, Wendy, I really appreciate this."

"Can I ask you something, Captain?" He glanced at her expectantly. "How long can we go on like this? I mean, I don't mind watching Lucas for you, but if this situation doesn't get fixed...what will happen to him?"

"I 'm not sure, and to tell you the truth, I have fewer options everyday."

"Have you told his parents yet?"

"Not yet. I'm hoping we can get this fixed and not need to tell them at all."

"Well, Dr. Gravel arrives today, so let's hope we can get on the road to a solution. But if you'll excuse me, Captain, I want to get some sleep before he arrives. I'll see you in the morning."

In the silence he could hear Lucas' heavy breathing, and he paused for a few minutes just to watch the steady rise and fall of his chest. In sleep, at least, he was calm. Pulling up he chair, he settled in for the night.

It felt like mere seconds before Nathan felt himself waking. His neck and shoulders felt like someone had taken a crowbar to them. He lay in the chair for several more seconds before slowly opening his eyes. He nearly jumped out of his skin when his saw Lucas standing in front him, completely silent, just staring.

"Oh my god, Lucas, you scared me for a second there. I wasn't expecting to see a little pair of blue eyes staring at me."

Lucas looked down at the floor. Part of him wanted more than anything to explain the night before, to be steady. But he couldn't find the words, the way to do it. Instead, all he could really think about was the Captain sleeping in a chair all night.

"I'm sorry I stolded your bunk Cap'in." he said to the floor, as somewhere something inside him winced.

Nathan immediately noticed his syntax. He bit the inside of cheek, feeling himself get emotional. He couldn't quite figure out whether he was sad to see his teenage boy lose the parts of himself that were recognizable, or whether he was glad to see this little boy, with little boy words despite his genius. What was happening to them?

"Stole, Lucas, not stolded."

"yessir" Lucas replied, finally looking up. "Can I ask you somethin' Cap'in?"

"Always."

The next thing he knew Lucas was climbing into his lap. He was so surprised it took some effort not to make any sudden movements. He didn't want to scare the boy.

Lucas settled himself on Nathan's lap, facing away from him, his head resting back against Nathan's chest. Grabbing the man's left hand he pointed to his ring and asked

"What's this ring mean?"

Nathan took a deep breath, feeling Lucas' small fingers pulling at his ring.

"That's my wedding ring, champ."

The little boy's fingers moved to his right hand. "And this one?"

"That's my Naval Academy ring, I got it when I graduated."

"You gonna send me away?"

Nathan stiffened in spite of himself. "Why would I do that, Lucas?"

"I wet the bed. And I told secrets I wasn't s'posed to."

"I would never send you away, Lucas, unless I thought you might get hurt. And as for what happened last night – some things aren't meant to be secrets. Grown ups shouldn't hurt their children. I'm so glad you told me, Lucas. You can always come to me, ok?"

He felt Lucas nod against him. It was difficult not to laugh when he heard a small voice say "I wanna ring too, Cap'in."

"I'll work on that." Bridger replied, kissing the top of Lucas'' head.


	13. 13

"Lucas, I've got to get going, I have to meet Dr. Gravel in a few minutes in the Launch Bay. Are you ok staying here and finishing your breakfast with Tony?"

Lucas looked up from his meal of pancakes, syrup all over his mouth. "Uh huh", he said, nodding.

"When you're done I want you to go straight to Medbay. Dr. Gravel and I will be there shortly. Got it?"

Lucas didn't look up this time; he was too busy making happy faces with the syrup and pancakes. "Go to medbay. 'kay."

Nathan stared at his young charge for a few more seconds, and then left with a smile and a quick ruffle of Lucas' hair. He reached the Launch Bay, but Dr. Gravel's shuttle had yet to arrive, and from the last radio communication, it would be several more minutes before it arrived.

Bridger paced back and forth in launch bay, thinking about what Lucas revealed the night before. It was still early in the day and he had felt his pulse and anger rise so many times. Lucas, on the other hand, besides his comment about being sent away, seemed to have bounced back rather quickly. But Nathan wasn't fooled. The emotional fall-out of revealing the abuse would have long-term consequences, and it seemed to him that Lucas was already experiencing the emotional effects. He suspected that his regression in speech was one symptom – clearly his IQ was the same. But on the other hand, maybe it was just a sign that he trusted the Captain, allowing himself to be the little boy he had never been allowed to be. Nathan suspected that in the Wolencazk household one small slip in grammar – saying "stolded" instead of "stole" would result in a beating. Now was Lucas' chance to be his age instead of his IQ.

He had to make a move, that was clear. This could not happen again, to the 6 year old, or the 16 year old. He would be damned if his parents got a hold of Lucas ever again. But there were steps to take. Wendy would have to examine the boy thoroughly, and authorities would have to be notified – starting with the UEO. They needed to know the situation aboard the Seaquest, and the long-term consequences if it couldn't be fixed.

His thoughts were interrupted as one of the crewmen announced the arrival of Dr. Gravel's shuttle. Dr. Gravel smiled instantly upon spotting the Captain, striding over confidently and reaching out to shake his hand.

"Captain Bridger, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Dr. Gravel. We really appreciate you coming all this way to help us out."

Dr. Gravel smiled wider. I consider it a challenge. It's been quite sometime since anyone has asked me to work on the FOY machines. I did a lot of research and development on them, but they got away from me. I'm glad to help out now."

"Glad to hear it, we need all the help we can get. Three of my crew lost approximately ten years of their lives." Bridger paused. "Would you like a quick tour of the Seaquest before heading to meet Dr. Smith?"

"That would be lovely, Captain."

"Now the next area we are coming up on is Mammal engineering. This area is where we work with a dolphin – Darwin – to try and…"

As they reached the door of Mammal engineering and Seadeck, Nathan was forced to stop his speech. There was Lucas, clad only in his underwear beginning to climb over the edge and into Darwin's pool. Alone. Nathan's heart leapt into his throat.

"Lucas! Not one more step!" Nathan said, anger and sternness creeping into his voice in spite of himself.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Dr. Gravel chuckle. "You weren't kidding when you said Mammal engineering, were you?"

Upon hearing the Captain's voice Lucas froze. Nathan could see the colour drain from the small boy's face, and his body start to tremble. Bridger forced himself to take a deep breath and count to ten before approaching Lucas.

"What are you doing here, Lucas?"

The boy's voice was quiet when he replied "I was gonna go swimmin' with Darwin."

"Did I say you could go swimming? Did you ask me to go swimming?"

Lucas couldn't speak, he just shook his head.

"And what did I ask you to do?"

There was no response.

"Lucas, look at me." The boy looked up, clearly terrified. "What did I ask you to do?" Nathan repeated.

"Go to Medbay after my breakfast." Lucas said.

"So why did you disobey me, son?"

Lucas just shrugged. "I dunno. I'm sorry." Lucas exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Nathan's neck. In spite of his anger, the Captain scooped the small boy up in his arms. "I'm disappointed Lucas. You need to listen to the grownups around you. But we can talk about this later." Nathan's voice lowered so that only Lucas could hear him. "There is something more important and you have you listen to me. You are never to go swimming alone ever. You're not old enough or big enough. You could get hurt and I don't know what I would do if something happened to you. Promise me you'll never go swimming alone."

"I promise sir."

"Good, now go get dressed and get to Medbay!" Nathan said out loud, setting Lucas down.

"Is that your son, Captain? I didn't realize the UEO was allowing children on their vessels."

"They don't. Lucas was my chief computer expert. He had gone along to the abandoned ship and was checking out the – what did you call them? – the FOY machines. He was very much a teenager, and now he's just a tiny boy. If we can't fix this, Lucas won't be able to stay on the Seaquest."


	14. 14

"So you say that the ship was completely abandoned?" Dr. Gravel asked, after they had settled into discussion of the situation in medbay.  
"That's what I've heard. Lucas?" Nathan replied, turning towards the boy, who was already nodding.

"It was really empty. You could almost hear an echo. The Seaquest crew members were the only ones on board."  
"No evidence of death?"  
"No sir, no bodies, no blood, nothin'."

Dr. Gravel gave Lucas his full attention. "Can you tell me exactly what happened when you first found the FOY, Lucas?"

Lucas glanced up at the Dr., puzzled. "FOY? What's that?"

"Right, sorry; FOY stands for Fountain of Youth. That was the name of the project when it first started."

Wendy interrupted. "So these machines were intended to de-age individuals?"

"Yes. Of course it was a project that was heavily based on vanity, but not all science is for a higher good. Sometimes people create things just to see if they can."

"True enough, doctor." Nathan interjected.

"Anyways, I was with Lonnie an' Tony, we were checkin' out the boat to see if we could find people, or just figure out where everybody was hidin' or whatever. That's when we seen the lab and the machine."

"And what exactly did you do to the machine, Luacs?" the Captain asked. He instantly saw those blue eyes slide down to the table and to his hands. Clearly he was nervous.

"I wasn't tryin' to hurt nuthin' Cap'n. I wanted to see if the FOY coulda had somethin' to do with the crew disappearing."

"I know that Lucas, please keep going."

"I had to play around with it at first, most of the machinery that was important to the sub didn't have power no more, and at first I figured the FOY wouldn't have any either. But I musta hit the magic button cause it started to hum and then a laser beam hit the wall across from it. Then it swept the room and hit me an' Tony an' Lonnie. That's it."

Dr. Gravel sighed. "Well that sounds about standard really. The thing about the FOY project is that it is still considered Open. Work has not yet been completed on reversal tools. There are some ideas that might work, but it will take time."

"Well," Nathan said, "while you all discuss the possibilities, I've got some calls to make. If you'll excuse me."

It was clear that this situation was getting bigger, and Nathan knew it was time to make a call and let Admiral Noyce in on the situation, both general and specific to Lucas.

Settling down in front of his vid-phone he dialled Noyce.

"Nathan!" the man greeted him instantly, once his secretary had patched the Captain through.

Nathan smiled ruefully. "Bill." He greeted in return.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I've got a situation here . . ."

* * *

It hadn't taken long for the Doctors to get so far into the discussion of the FOY machines that they forgot Lucas was even there. He had already slipped out of his seat and was wandering the lab, looking into oddly labelled jars and test tubes, collecting little bits of things that were interesting that people had left lying around. So far he had collected some superglue, a pencil stub, and an elastic band. The latter he had used to play a game of cat's cradle with himself – but the fun in that ran out as soon as he realized that it wasn't really a one-person game. _Maybe the Cap'n will play with me?_ He thought to himself, and quickly headed off towards the Captain's quarters.

As he approached the door, he could hear the Captain talking, almost yelling. Lucas froze, hating to hear the Captain mad, but too afraid to take another step. The door to the Captain's quarters had been left open a crack, and he heard his name come floating through.

"Lucas may be a genius, Nathan, but a child that age cannot stay on the Seaquest. There's no two ways about it. Clearly this situation needs to be remedied, or..."

Admiral Noyce. Was the Admiral going to make him leave the Captain and the Seaquest? Neither Lucas nor Noyce had the time to finish their thoughts before the Captain's voice interrupted.

"Did you not hear what I just told you, Bill? They beat and abused him! I will not stand by and let anyone send Lucas back to them!"

"I do believe what you say, Nathan, but without evidence..."

"I don't give a damn about evidence!" Nathan roared. Lucas stood stock still in the corridor; his eyes squeezed shut as if by closing out the world he could become invisible.  
"Calm down, Nathan! Fine, he doesn't need to go back to his parents, but something does need to be planned in case this doesn't get fixed."

"No plans are necessary Bill, besides the one that I've already got. If we can't fix this, if Lucas remains in his current state, I'm going to resign and raise him myself."

Lucas' eyes snapped open. Had he heard the Captain right? He'd get to live with him for good, and they'd be a family? A thousand emotions rushed through him at once, his mind reeling. He heard the Captain say goodbye, and took off at a run through the Seaquest.


	15. 15

Bridger opened the door to his cabin very quietly; it was late, and he was just getting off shift. As he tiptoed into the room he greeted Wendy silently with a wave. He nodded towards the makeshift "wall" - a long, dark sheet really -he had set up beside Lucas' cot that gave them both a semblance of privacy. Plus it blocked out the light from his reading lamp, allowing Lucas to go to sleep at a decent hour while he stayed up.

"He's fast asleep." Wendy answered, as he came closer.

"Good. Look Wendy, I was hoping to bring him in tomorrow morning for a full physical exam. Do you have the time?"

"I can make the time, but can I ask why you want a physical?"

"Well, Lucas told me something last night that ----." He was cut off by the sound of Lucas from the other side of the room.

"Cap'n! You're back!" The boy exclaimed gladly, launching himself at the older man. Nathan was forced to take a step back in response to the enthusiastic greeting.

"Well hello to you, too. What are you doing out of bed?"

"I heard you talkin' and I wanted to see you."

"Ah, I see. Well get back to bed, I'll be in to tuck you in in a few minutes, ok?"

"Yessir."

As soon as Lucas' disappeared behind the curtain that separated the room, the Captain led Wendy away from the boy and continued what he was saying.

"This is hard for me to talk about, and I want you to please keep this to yourself. Lucas has been abused by his father." Wendy's hand came up to her mouth as she gasped. Captain Bridger nodded. "I know. And it seems like it's been happening when he goes home on shore leave as well", he continued, his face a mask of controlled anger. "I've seen some scars, more than I wanted to, but I need you to more thoroughly examine and document any previous injuries so that we can. . . .build a case."

"You're thinking of taking this to court?"

"Absolutely. I will not allow them to hurt Lucas again. In fact, they'll be lucky if they manage to see him again."

"And then what, Captain? You might have thought as far as getting him out of danger, but then where does he go, who does he stay with? A child needs a family."

"I'm going to try and get custody myself, Doctor."

As Lucas emerged from his "room" the next morning, Nathan sat down on his bunk and called the boy over.

"I need to talk to you about something Lucas." He said, as he pulled the boy onto his lap. Lucas remained silent, looking up at him. He could see the boy was instantly guarded, wary.

"I did somethin' bad, didn't I?" came the quiet question.

"You did absolutely nothing bad, Lucas, that's not why I want to talk to you at all. I wanted to talk about what you told me about your father and how he punished you." Lucas went pale, and Bridger could see the tears forming in his eyes. "Hey, hey! There's no need for tears, I promise."

"You change your mind? You gonna send me 'way?" Lucas voice trembled as he spoke.

"No. I want to take you to see Dr. Smith, so that she can examine you, take some pictures, some X-rays, stuff like that. This way we can know how hurt you've been, and have proof of what happened so that we can stop him from hurting you ever again."

"You mean you're gonna try and stop him from doin' it again?"

"I'm going to try, kiddo. I just wanted to let you know what was going on before we went to medbay. Are you going to be okay with this?"

"Will you stay with me?"  
"Absolutely."

"Okay, Lucas, do you think you can get undressed for me? Not all the way, you can keep your underwear on." Dr. Smith said gently and with a smile. Lucas gave no reaction; he only continued to stare at her. It was disconcerting.

"Did you hear the doctor, Lucas? Do need help getting undressed?"

"No, I can do it myself."

Once undressed, Wendy turned back to the boy and said, "Lucas, I'm going to be taking some pictures of you. Just of some of your scars, and then I'll do an X-ray, ok?" Silence, but a nod. "Good."

After the physical evidence was documented, and Wendy had examined the X-rays, she called Captain Bridger into her office. He looked down at Lucas, still sitting on the examining table, shaking. He couldn't tell if it was from fear or chill. "You get dressed kiddo, and you can get to working on anything you've got going in here. I believe Dr. Gravel will be here in a little while; you can likely help him figure out the reversal for the FOY."

Inside Wendy's office the two adults discussed Lucas' situation. "Captain, you've seen the scars yourself, so there should be no surprise there."  
"No, but do we know what they're from?"  
"Not all of them. But at least some are consistent with wounds from a belt strap." The Captain's reaction was visible all over his face. Dr. Smith went on calmly, "there have been a few fractures as well. Some broken ribs, fingers, and a fractured left wrist." She paused. "I'm sorry Captain."

The Captain stood there silently for a few minutes, his hands clenched in fists. With a final sigh, he said "Thanks, Wendy. I appreciate everything you've done to help us."

Heading off to the bridge, he stopped and crouched in front of Lucas. "Did you survive that alright?" he asked the boy with a small smile, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

"Yeah, it wasn't so bad." Lucas wore his own wry smile.  
"I'll see you in a bit, ok kiddo."

When the Captain returned several hours later to pick Lucas up for some dinner, he was greeted by a very morose looking group in medbay.

"What's going on in here? You all look depressed!"

Dr. Gravel let out a large sigh. "Well, Captain, we were making some headway, I had summarized my research, and had begun to draft some schematics and just general problem solving scenerios, when we broke for lunch. We came back only to find one of the more . . ._acidic _liquids in the lab had been spilled on my documents. They're utterly destroyed."


	16. 16

I'm about 15 chapters later on this, but thank you all for your great reviews. I started this fic as a way to deal with my Bridger/Lucas father son relationship love (can you make sense of that?), and I'm lad others like it too.

* * *

After much discussion about how the damage could have occurred and how far back it set them, Captain Bridger left Drs Gravel and Smith to finish recreating the work that was lost and took Lucas to the mess for supper. Lucas reached up for his hand and held on tight as they walked through t he corridors, but the boy said nothing. All through dinner, despite Nathan's best efforts, Lucas remained silent, staring at his plate and playing with his food. 

"You've barely touched your dinner, Lucas."

"I'm not hungry, sir."

"Can you at least try and finish your carrots for me, please?"

"Yes Cap'in."

"Are you ok champ? You look a little down in the dumps."

"I'm ok Cap'in."

"You know you can tell me if anything was wrong."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, if you need to talk later, you'll let me know, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Do you promise?" Bridger asked with akind smile.

"I promise Cap'in."

oooooooooo

Giving up any hope of Lucas even finishing his carrots, 15 minutes later they headed back to their cabin.

"I've got some paperwork to do. Do you have anything to keep you occupied for a while?"

"Can I go on the Internex? I need to look somethin' up."

"Sure, go ahead. Maybe you can find something on the FOY."

Bridger did not see the boy roll his eyes at the mention of the machine. He only heard him grunt noncommittally.

Settling in, Nathan lost himself in his paperwork. Indeed, almost an hour and a half had gone by when he heard Lucas exclaim "Whoa!"

Glancing up, he quickly saw what had caused the boys reaction. On the screen in front of Lucas was a very graphic, very realistic, sex site. Lucas was staring in rapt attention, jaw dropped. Bridger got up from his desk and quickly headed to Lucas and covered the boy's eyes with one hand, flicking the power off on the computer with the other.

"I think that's quite enough of _that_ for one night."

Lucas automatically went into pout mode. "Why? What'd I do?"

"How'd you end up on that Internex site, kiddo?"

Lucas looked down, but not before Bridger noticed the colour drain from his face.

"I'm sorry Cap'in! I di'int meant to! It came up by accident when I was tryin' to get to asite. I musta typed it wrong. I was stupid an' I won't do it again I swear!"

Bridger noticed Lucas slamming his fist into the side of his leg – hard. He grabbed the punishing fist mid-swing, causing Lucas to look at him. Staring him in the eye, Bridger slowly pried Lucas' hand open breaking the fist.

"Remember the other night when I told you that nobody was supposed to be hitting you? Well, you shouldn't hit yourself either, Lucas."

"But I was stupid."

"You're not stupid Lucas. It's against the rules."

"That isn't no rule!" Lucas eyed him suspiciously.

"It is now. I just made it up. I'm the Captain I can do that. So new rule. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Good. Now come sit down for a second. Do you understand what you just saw on that site?"

"Yeah, it had naked people and it said it was about sex. I know what sex is."

The Captain raised his eyebrows. "Do you now? Well why don't you tell me what you know."

"Sex is for makin' babies. The girl's got eggs and the boy's got sperm and they meet in the girl and grow into a baby. The sperm gets in there when the boy puts his pe---"

"Ok, ok," Nathan cut him off, with a slight blush rising in his cheeks. "Clearly you know the technical side, but there's a bit more to it than that. Like the fact that sex usually happens between two people who love each other romantically."

"The people on that site di'int look like they was in love, Cap'in."

"No I'm guessing they didn't. There are exceptions to every rule, kiddo."

Lucas looked puzzled for a few seconds. "But Cap'in, why would people wanna put that on the Internex?"

"Well Lucas, sometimes people – _grown ups_ – like to look at those kinds of pictures because it makes them feel good physically."

"Really? I thought the pictures was scary Cap'in. Does that make me weird?" the childish concern was apparent in his voice.

"No, not at all kiddo. Like I said, it's some grownups that look at these pictures. They're not meant for children. Kids your age shouldn't see them because it might confuse or scare them. They're not ready to understand adult actions like in those pictures."

"Is that why you covered my eyes?"

"Yep."

"So," Lucas said, standing up behind where the Captain was sitting, "do I get to cover your eyes now?" With a smile he clapped his hands over Bridger's eyes.

"Oh! Who turned out the lights?" the Captain cried with false alarm. "Where'd my Lucas go? He was right here a minute ago!"

Lucas bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"I'm sure he must be here somewhere…" the Captain began flailing about with his hands, patting the couch as if looking for the boy. Lucas couldn't help himself, and a giggle escaped.

"Oh!" cried Bridger, "I heard something! It sounded much like the laughter of a little boy!"

Lucas began squirming with suppressed laughter.

"I think it's coming from…HERE!" With the last word, Nathan grabbed Lucas and flipped him over his head and began tickling him mercilessly. Lucas howled with laughter. The Captain stopped after a few seconds and let his charge catch his breath.

"Ok you. Time to get ready for bed."

"Now? Really!"

"Yes, no arguments."

And with that, the Captain hauled Lucas over his shoulder, carrying him like a sack of potatoes. This set Lucas off into a fresh set of giggles.

Neither one noticed the bemused stared of the other crew members as they headed off to the showers.

Or, if they did notice, they didn't care.


	17. 17

WOW! So many reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you all liked it. I've still got a few chapters or more left before I wind this story up, but it won't be for a while yet, so no worries there :) Hope you like this chapter as much.

* * *

Nathan's hope that Lucas' nightmares might be dissipating was lost as soon as Lucas' scream pierced through the silent cabin that night. The Captain bounded out of bed and towards the cot where the boy lay. The scream had stopped as suddenly as it had begun, but he could still hear soft whimpers coming the other side of the sheet that separated them.

As he reached Lucas, Nathan knew better than to approach too quickly. He could see that Lucas was still asleep, as he lay there stock-still, biting and sucking on his fist to keep himself from screaming out again. The dreams were real to Lucas, and he was certainly living in the moment – he clearly was trying desperately not to make any wrong noise or movement that might result in a beating. The fact that he was constantly vigilant, even in sleep made Nathan sad. But he didn't have much time to dwell on his thoughts because he needed to wake Lucas.

Sitting on the edge of the cot, the Captain gently put his hand on the boy's shoulder to shake him. "Wake up Lucas, it's just a dream. Wake up kiddo."

Sniffling and whimpering, Lucas opened his eyes slowly. When he spotted the Captain he let out a sob, but then quickly bit down on his fist to quiet himself.

"You don't have to do that, champ. It's ok if you need to cry" Nathan told Lucas, removing the boy's hand from his mouth. "I know that your nightmares can be really scary."

Lucas just shook his head. "Not s'posed to cry."

"Why not?"

"It's being a sissy, and if I'm a sissy I get displin'd."

"He punishes you if you cry?" Nathan asked, trying to keep the hatred and anger out of his voice.

"It's ok Captain. It's a father's job to make sure his son is strong. It's a father's job to make sure his son obeys his elders. It's a father's job to make sure his son knows his place."

Lucas was staring straight ahead, arms around himself, speaking in a quiet monotone. Bridger was sure that these pieces of Lawrence's "wisdom" were memorized. He tried not to think of how that had come about.

Lucas continued. "It's a father's job to teach his son . . ." Bridger couldn't stand to hear another word. He pulled Lucas into his arms. "Shhh, no more of that Lucas, ok?" He took a few seconds to try and get his control back, and then looked down at Lucas who was still rocking back and forth.

"Lucas, did your father teach you that those things were his job?" the Captain asked, rocking the boy back and forth so he wouldn't have to do it himself. He felt Lucas nod against him. "Well you know what Lucas? He was wrong. He taught you those things so that you would believe that you deserved the abuse that he put you through. So that you would believe that it was your fault." He could feel the trembling from the little boy, and he reached down to make sure that Lucas was looking at him, that he heard what he had to say.

"Lucas, you didn't deserve what happened, and it wasn't your fault. That is not what father's do."

He had expected some sort of reaction from Lucas at that, but he was met with silence. The boy showed no reaction, even in his eyes.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep?"

"No! Please don't make me, I'm scared." Lucas looked up, eyes pleading. "Can we read some more of the 20,000 leagues book?"

"Yeah, I think we can manage that."

Nathan had just finished reading a chapter of the novel, when he glanced down at Lucas. He was certainly drowsing, but he was also fighting sleep, Nathan could tell. In a few more pages, however, the Captain suspected the battle would be lost.

"Cap'in?"

"Yes?"

"If those things from before aren't a father's job, then what is?

Nathan blinked for a moment. He wasn't expecting that. He thought Lucas would ask for a glass of whatever, or other typical kid-like methods to delay going to bed. Now here he was faced with quite the philosophical question. Did he even know the answer himself?

"Well, Lucas, that's a tough question, because every father is different. But I can tell you that I think a father's job is to love their children. They should be there for them when they are needed. They should teach their children how to behave – and yes, that sometimes means punishing them, but never, ever in the way your father did it. He should teach them and guide their way through the world. A father should be a role model for his children, and should protect them as much as he can. There's more, but that's the big ones, I think." He responded, brushing the hair off Lucas' forehead as the boy yawned.

"Does that help answer your question?" Nathan asked, as he tucked the blankets in around Lucas and helped him settle in.

"Yessir. It helps 'lot." Lucas murmured as he closed his eyes.


	18. 18

"Again?" Bridger exclaimed into his PAL. He was halfway through his shift when Wendy and Dr. Gravel requested a shuttle to take them over to the abandoned ship. It had taken Dr. Gravel most of the morning to repair the damage done to his schematics, but they were relatively back on track.

Until now anyway.

Mistaking his exasperation for a command, he heard Henderson's voice once more, "The Seaquest is sending us an error report when we request permission to launch sir. We can't get off the boat."  
"Understood, Lieutenant."  
"Somebody tell me how long it will take to fix this!" he said a touch too loudly, and to no one in particular.  
"I'll have it fixed in about 15, sir." a voice behind him replied.  
"Thank you. 15 minutes, Henderson."  
"Yes, sir."  
-----  
(25 minutes later)

"What seems to be the problem?" Nathan asked through gritted teeth as he watched the officer tap away at the controls.  
"Nothing, technically, Captain. There seems to be some bloatware on the system that's running unnecessary background tasks that are diverting the energy from the launch controls. It's simple, but messy, and hard to get rid of."  
"How'd it get there in the first place?"  
"No idea, sir. Could be just about anything."  
"How much longer until you can fix it?"  
The officer winced. "Probably another half an hour, sir."  
Bridger sighed. "Carry on."  
"Aye, sir."  
"Henderson?"  
"Yes, Captain?"  
"Tell the doctors to head back to med bay, we'll contact them when the problem's fixed. Please maintain your position, we'll need to test the launch function once the issue is cleared up."  
"Aye sir."  
---------  
Bridger couldn't fully relax for the rest of his shift, at least not until he heard the words "The shuttle has docked sir." In the end it had taken them 45minutes to get the Drs off on their shuttle to the abandoned sub, but given the circumstances, he wouldn't have been surprised if yet more disasters had happened. Thankfully the rest of the Drs trip was fine and their return went smoothly.

Leaving the bridge to Ford, the Captain stopped by the mess to pick up some dinner. Taking the food back to his cabin, he found Lucas sitting at his table concentrating on whatever was on the table in front of him. Sitting in the chair beside him lightly snoring, was Tony Piccolo. Bridger put his tray down on the table and indicating Tony, he said quietly to Lucas,

"You must have really kept him on his toes today to tire him out like this."

Lucas looked up at him and smiled. Bridger could see that he and Tony had already eaten based on the mustard smudges all over his chin and cheeks.  
"Veggie burgers for dinner?" he asked unnecessarily.  
"Yep. They were really good."  
"Did any of them make it into your mouth, or just all over your face?" Lucas just looked at him, puzzled. "Go wash your face, kiddo. You've got mustard everywhere."

With that Lucas slid off the chair and headed for the Captain's bathroom.  
Placing a hand on Tony's shoulder, he gave the younger man a gentle shake. "Piccolo, you can go now. Thanks for staying with him."  
Shaking himself awake, Tony looked up at the Captain. "Aw, crap Captain Bridger, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I swear."  
"Don't worry about it Tony, I understand." he replied with a wry smile.  
"Thanks Cap, I'll see you later."  
Glancing down he spotted the paper that Lucas had been scribbling away at. He moved to take a closer look, and was quite surprised at what he found. He had been expecting something academic, math equations, specs for the vocorder, things along those lines. What he found instead was the a picture of what appeared to be the Seaquest (thankfully labelled as such) drawn by the clumsy hand of the 6 year old. Nathan couldn't help smiling to himself when he spotted the fact that Lucas had included a Captain's chair and stick figure Captain. He thoughts fell to Lucas and the rather disturbing lack of noise coming from the bathroom.

"It's awfully quiet in there. What are you doing Lucas?"

Opening the door he saw the boy kneeling on the sink, staring at himself in the mirror, covered from nose to chin in shaving cream, some of it dripping off his face and onto his T-shirt.

Nathan ran his hand down his face and groaned. Reminding himself of the natural tendency small children have to do things like this, he asked evenly,

"Lucas Wolenczak, why are you covered in my shaving cream?"

Lucas turned to face him, and in a very slow, patient tone, responded "I wanted to shave."

_Of course you did. _Nathan thought to himself. _How silly of me for even asking.  
_

"And why exactly do you want to shave?"  
Lucas shrugged. "You do."

If he thought that puppy dog look was bad at 16, it was pretty damn hard to say no to at 6. In fact, he'd bet it was impossible_. I should get him to call the Secretary General and secure more funding._  
Smiling at the thought, he quickly turned Lucas around and sat him on the sink counter.

"

Wait there a minute, champ, I'll get the razor."  
"All right!" Lucas exclaimed happily.

Rooting through his medicine cabinet, Bridger quickly found his razor. Slipping out the blade, he handed the now harmless instrument to Lucas.  
"But I can't see nothin'."

Bridger held up a mirror in his other hand and stood in front of Lucas, positioning the mirror in front of the boy so he could see.  
He watched as Lucas' little hands held the razor, dragging it down his cheeks. Once again, Nathan found himself biting the inside of his cheek to maintain his composure. What the hell was happening? When had he become this emotional?

He watched as Lucas finished "shaving". Putting down the mirror he looked at the boy. "Good job, kiddo. You're almost a pro."

"Almost?"

"Well, you did miss a spot" Nathan said. As he finished his sentence, he scooped up a spot of shaving cream off Lucas' cheek and smeared it on the boy's nose, causing him to collapse into giggles. After a moment Lucas launched himself into the Captain's arms in the way that children do when they're confident that someone will catch them. It took Lucas mere seconds to rub the shaving cream on his nose off on the Captain.

"You shoulda shaved too, Cap'in."

"Oh?" "Yeah, you're scratchy."


	19. 19

Chapter 19 – Second Chances 

"My apologies Lieutenant, for keeping you here past the end of your shift, I had a hell of a time getting Lucas out of bed this morning." Bridger said quietly to Brody as he stepped onto the bridge and made his way to the command chair.

There was still something that felt silly about captaining the Seaquest while resorting to 'the babysitter was late' type of excuses. At the end of this he owed some serious shore leave to Wendy and Piccolo. Regardless of any of his personal feelings on the situation, he could certainly see why the UEO had a strict "no children" policy regarding it's passengers. With the exception of Lucas, of course; well, the 16-year-old version, anyway. The considerably younger version was quickly approaching unwelcome status.

"Oh? Is Junior not getting enough rest?" Brody asked. Nathan could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Oh trust me – 'Junior''s getting far more rest than his –" Bridger stopped speaking suddenly as if he had hit a brick wall. _His what? Friend? Babysitter? Guardian? His…oh._ "than his Captain." Bridger finished, ignoring Brody's puzzled look.

"Anything to report from your shift?" he continued.

"Nothing. Steady as she goes sir, we're basically dogpaddling around the ocean and the other sub wreckage." Brody replied, unable to completely conceal his frustration at their lack of action. Bridger threw one of his patented pointed-yet-amused looks at the Lieutenant. "Dismissed."

Jim turned as he walked away, "oh, Captain, Dr. Smith and Dr. Gravel paged the bridge at some ungodly hour and asked that you come see them in the labs once you get a chance."

"Noted. Thank you Lieutenant."

So the Doctors were pulling an all-nighter? He hoped that maybe they had managed to catch up to the original timeframes they had meshed out for the project. As eager as he was to see the progress, something told him 7:00 am was not the time to approach the good doctors.

000000000

"I can't make any sense of it, but it certainly looks impressive."

"Well, Captain," Dr Gravel began, "it's the most core functionality of the FOY. Dr. Smith and I managed to remove the parts and reproduce it. Now I hope to be able to work with the machinery on board the Seaquest to adjust it to fix your…issue. And this will also prevent any further shuttle mishaps." He said with a smile.

"You're a patient man, Dr. Gravel – I appreciate that. As you may guess, I have my hands full these days."

"It happens, Captain."

"Do you know what work needs to be done to be able to reverse things?"

"I have a place to start, from there – well, we'll see."

Nathan glanced around the room quickly. "From the distinct lack of him, I'm assuming Lucas wasn't much of a help? Where is he?"

Wendy made a face. "No, not much help I'm afraid. And I don't think hindrance would be too strong of a description."

"Ouch."  
"Mmmm. He needed a nap, so I took him back to your quarters. Lonnie's with him right now."

Nathan couldn't help laughing. Seeing Wendy's questioning look he replied, "A nap. The idea is just a little funny, and more than a little satisfying. There's been many a time I've wanted to put 16 year old Lucas down for a nap. And I've actually managed to trick him into it a few times", he finished, clearly proud of himself.

"Too bad you weren't here earlier, then. He put up a hell of a fight."  
"Was he still awake when you left him with Henderson?"  
"Oh yeah."  
"I'd better go see if she's survived, then." With that Bridger headed to his quarters, still chuckling to himself.

000000000

"Is he awake?" he asked quietly, sticking his head into his quarters.

"Captain," Henderson smiled. "No, he's still asleep. In fact, he only stopped fighting it about half an hour ago."

"You're a saint, Henderson. I really appreciate this. I feel like I've been imposing on too many members of the crew already."

"Any time, Captain. You know what they say: 'It takes a village'." Henderson said as she left his quarters.

"Or a UEO Flagship." Bridger muttered to himself. Peeking behind the curtain to where Lucas lay asleep on his cot, the Captain couldn't help smiling to himself. "Hello there Addison." He whispered quietly upon sight of the bear held tightly in Lucas' arms. Seeing the flush in Lucas' cheeks, in quietly pulled down the blankets a little. "Sweet dreams kiddo."

Nathan basked in the relative peace and quiet for the next 20 minutes, doing absolutely nothing but putting his feet up and reading a book. His few moments alone were interrupted by a very emphatic knock at his door. "Come in" he called with a sigh, quickly putting both his feet and the book down. He had barely finished his greeting when Wendy Smith stalked into his cabin looking like she was was ready to kill.

"Doctor?"

"This stupid FOY is making me insane, Captain!"

"Care to elaborate?" he knew she would anyway, he might as well pretend he actually wanted to hear it.

"The machinery Dr. Gravel put together? Fell apart!"

Nathan's eyebrows raised at this. "Fell apart?"

"Well, a few pieces came loose. He thinks that one of the connections was loose and when he went to go work on it they just – fell off."

"Oh boy."

"Exactly!"

Just then he felt a presence at his side. Lucas was standing there, rubbing at his eyes, chin trembling.

"What's happening?" he asked the Captain.

"Did we wake you, champ?"

"There was yelling."

"That was me, Lucas. I was just upset about the FOY and all the delays we keep running into."

"You can go back to sleep."

Lucas looked up at him – chin still trembling. "You need to trust me on this Lucas. You're safe ok?"

The boy gave a small nod, and then retreated back to his cot. Bridger was fairly sure he wouldn't actually go back to sleep.

0000000

"You've been petty quiet all day Lucas." Bridger said several hours later.

Lucas just shrugged, not looking up from his book. "Just reading."

"You ready for dinner?"

"I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat. You've barely eaten all day."

"But I'm not hungry!"

"This isn't negotiable, Lucas. Now up of the bed." Lucas didn't move. "March!"

Lucas grumbled under his breath, but got up off the bed.

"What was that?"

"Nuthin'" Lucas said sullenly.

"That's what I thought."

At the mess, Lucas refused to cooperate in choosing what he wanted to eat, so Nathan proceeded to fill a plate for him. Part of him wished that liver had been on the menu.

As he set the food down in front of the boy, Lucas made a face. "I don't wanna eat any of _that_."

"Well, you had the chance to choose your own supper and you didn't, so you'll eat what's on your plate."

"But –"

"I mean it Lucas."

Spotting Drs Smith and Gravel, Bridger waved them over.

"Hello Captain, Lucas." Dr. Gravel greeted them. Bridger smiled and returned the greeting; Lucas said nothing.

"Lucas, it's impolite to ignore someone like that. What's gotten into you today?"

"Hello." He muttered.

Everyone ate in companionable silence for a few minutes until Dr. Gravel broke the silence. "Can we meet tonight Captain, to discuss some more about the FOY?"

"Certainly."

"I wanna go swimming with Darwin tonight."

"Sorry, you have to come with me. It'll be too late to swim."

"I don't wanna go I wanna swim."

"Lucas, that's enough!"

Dr. Gravel tried to break the tension. "When you're at the meeting with us you can learn more about the FOY."

"I don't care about the FOY, the FOY is stupid!"

"That's it!" Bridger said standing up. "You're going to bed."

Lucas immediately started crying as Bridger took his hand and led him out of the mess.

"Let's meet in the wardroom." He called over his shoulder.


	20. 20

Hey all, here'sthe next segment in the story. Hopefully it moves the plot along a little, rather than just being full of sappy cheese ;)

Once again, thanks for all your reviews.

* * *

Nathan left the door to his cabin open slightly and turned towards the Ward room with a sign. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or exhausted, likely both. Lucas on his best behaviour was difficult enough to get settled down, Lucas having a bratty day was apparently next to impossible.

Once again leaving the door ajar slightly, Bridger headed into the Ward room and greeted his colleagues who had already gathered around the table. With himself, the doctors, Henderson, Piccolo and Ford they were at full capacity so he took the only empty seat at the opposite side of the room.

"Sorry for the delay folks, had a little personal trouble to take care of," the Captain said as he took his seat, deliberately ignoring the smirks he could see around the table. "Anyway, on with the show. Dr. Gravel you called this meeting, to what do we owe the honour?"

"Well Captain, as I think you know, we had some more difficulties with our FOY work this morning."

"Again." Dr. Smith said pointedly, not quite under her breath.

"I thought, given the amount of recurrence, we might have a bit of a brainstorming session to try and solve this. We simply can not continue with this amount of disaster, or it will takes us significantly longer than hoped to reverse your crew's positions."

"I have to say one thing, Doctor, you're certainly hard to ruffle. You've been taking all this interference well." Wendy had the decency to blush at that. "You're right, of course. After three incidents we need to figure out what the heck is going on here and what we can do about it. We can't afford to keep losing time."

"Well, the events certainly don't seem to be connected in any way. The first was an accident, the second a technical failure with the boat, the third, well, faulty connections in the machinery. If they were all technical issues with the Seaquest, or even all faulty mechanics, we would at least have some where to start." Ford jumped in.

"So you're sayin' we just have lousy luck?" Tony asked. Jonathan could only shrug helplessly.

"Has anyone thought that maybe it isn't luck? It seems awfully purposeful to me." Henderson asked quietly.

"We had actually thought of that," Wendy spoke up, "but it just doesn't seem to be the case. One of the science team members admits that she left the acid out that spilt on the schematics. The Seaquest is known to run into technical difficulties occasionally, " Nathan ignored the amused snort that came from Ford at that, " and with the machinery model, the piece that fell off was positioned in such a way that it would be almost impossible for anyone to get at it."

"But not entirely impossible?" Bridger inquired.

"You'd have to see the machinery to know what I mean precisely."

"Well I'll have to take another look at it then."

Just then the meeting was interrupted by a high-pitched wail coming from the doorway. All eyes turned to find Lucas standing there in one of Bridger's T-shirts, one hand on his left ear and a flush in his cheeks. Nathan wasn't sure how he managed to cross the corridor without being heard, wailing like that, and noted that as soon as the boy laid eyes on him the crying only got louder. They both moved towards each other at the same time, but Dr. Smith reached Lucas first.

"Are you hurt Lucas? What's wrong?" Reaching up to touch the boy's forehead, she turned to Bridger, "He's got a fever, that's for sure." Lucas ducked away from her touch and held his arms out to Nathan. "Where does it hurt Lucas?" Wendy asked one more time. This time, Lucas began talking between his tears.

"What's he saying, I can't understand him." Tony asked, worried about his friend.

Quietly, and with a stern look at Bridger that he failed to notice, Wendy replied. "He's saying 'Daddy'".

"Daddy?" Tony repeated, confused. "Why would he call for that jerk?"

"I don't think he means Dr. Wolenczak, Tony." Ford said quietly to the younger man, nodding his head towards where Bridger had gathered Lucas up in his arms and was wiping the boy's forehead.

Nathan had momentarily felt himself pale at Wendy's words. The single word reeled through his mind, and the thought of all the repercussions one word can have. Thankfully his body was working on instinct, and he had Lucas picked up and settled on his hip before he had stopped to realize what was going on. And just like that, his Captain mask was back, taking charge.

"Rest your head, kiddo, while we go to medbay."

"Can't. My ear hurts too much."

"Which one?" Lucas indicated his left ear silently. As if the touch had set him off again, he began sobbing in pain. "Make it go away, Daddy."

Jaw clenched, Nathan felt Lucas' forehead and titled the boys face up to look him in the eyes. Skin hot, eyes glassy, he noted. "Do you know where you are Lucas?"

"Seaquest."

"And who am I?"

"The Cap'n"

"Who am I to you, Lucas?" Silence. Lucas wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Ok, let's go to medbay ok?" A nod.


	21. 21

A/N: This ones pretty short, but it just seemed like thte proper place to end it. The end is in sight -- this story likely has a few more chapters in it, but I already have ideas for my next story!

* * *

"He's got a temperature of 103, Captain."

Nathan shot Wendy a look. "Isn't that dangerously high?"

"It is on the high side for a child his age, but I'll give him something that should bring it down. I want to keep him here to monitor him for a bit. I've also got a cooling pad that he can lie on to cool down his body."

"He's had some accidents at night." Nathan said to her quietly.  
In spite of herself, she smiled. "The pad's pretty waterproof Captain. You can stay here with him if you like?"

"Please. And his ear?"

"Ear infection, pretty standard stuff. We'll keep him here for a few days; these things are often precursors to other infections and colds."

"Mmmm. He's going to love that." Approaching the bed, Bridger was glad to see that Lucas was resting and appeared far calmer than he had earlier. "Hey kiddo. It looks like you're gonna have to stay here for a while, maybe a day or two. But I promise to visit when I'm not on duty, and Dr. Smith will make you feel better as quickly as she can."

"I'm sorry." Came the quiet reply.

"For what? For being sick? You don't have to apologize for that."

Lucas just stared at him, almost like he was trying to will the Captain to understand him, not wanting to say it. Nathan tried hard to concentrate. If he really did have any psychic powers like others have suggested, now would be a good time to break them in. And then it hit him – be it psychic powers or just a father's intuition – he knew what Lucas was apologizing for, and another little piece of his heart broke for the boy.

"Shhh, don't worry about that. We can talk about it when you're feeling better. You go to sleep, I'll be back to see you in a bit." Lucas' eyes were closed before he even finished his sentence.

Heading over to Wendy and Dr. Gravel, Nathan took the opportunity to look over the machinery Dr. Gravel had mentioned earlier. "You're right, it would be mighty difficult for someone to get into where the malfuction occurred. Everything's so tightly packed. Unless..." his thoughts were cut of by the sound once more of Lucas calling out for him.

"Da--" the boy managed to catch himself as the adults all turned to look at him. "I don't feel good."  
Turning to see Lucas walking towards them, Bridger went over and scooped Lucas up in his arms. "What are you doing out of bed, Lucas?"  
"I don't feel so--" Lucas stopped short, and Bridger noticed him grow considerably paler, and before either of them could grasp what was happening, Lucas was sick all over himself and the Captain.

As soon as he realized what had happened, Lucas began sobbing. "It's ok Lucas, it's ok. We'll get you cleaned up." Hurrying over to the bed, he sat Lucas down and removed first the boy's shirt, and the his own, as Wendy hurried over with a glass of water.

"Here, Lucas, drink some of this. It'll help you get rid of the taste in your mouth. And Captain, give me one second and I'll get you a damp cloth to help clean him off, and well, clean yourself off."

"Thanks Wendy." turning towards Lucas, Nathan asked "Do you think you're going to be sick again, champ?"

Lucas, in the meantime, had continued crying quietly, his hand in his mouth. Exhausted, the boy had curled up on the bed, and didn't open his eyes or answer Nathan's question. Leaning over, Bridger removed the hand from Lucas' mouth, and brushed the sweat-soaked bangs off his forehead.  
"Are you gonna be sick again?"  
Lucas didn't open his eyes, he caught his breath to stop crying and said quietly "No, Daddy, I don't think so."  
"Good, that's good. We've got to get you cleaned up. Can you sit up for me?" When Lucas didn't move, Nathan looked a little closer - Lucas was already asleep."  
Turning to Wendy and taking the cloth she proffered, he noted "He's out cold, can you sit him up so I can clean him a bit?"

10 mins later, with Lucas cleaned up and sound asleep, and a fresh shirt for himself Nathan turned to the doctors.  
"I think I know what might be going on with the project. Can we go into your office?"  
Closing the door behind them, Dr. Gravel met Nathan's glance and said "I'm curious to hear your theory Captain."  
"So am I." Wendy added, arms folded in front of her.

Nathan sat down on the top of her desk with a heavy sigh. "I think is sabotage, and I think Lucas is behind it."


	22. 22

"Lucas? Really? What makes you think that?" Dr. Gravel asked in surprise.

Nathan shot a look at Wendy. She was leaning against the desk with one eyebrow raised in what could have been surprise, or just as easily could have been anticipation. "Well," he started, turning back to Dr. Gravel, "there are a number of reasons I suspect Lucas. He certainly is intelligent enough to pull off the shuttle difficulties, and if you think about it, he's the only one with small enough hands to have been able to mess with the machinery you were working on."

Dr. Gravel looked thoughtful. "You have a point, but why would he do such a thing?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Wendy jumped in passionately. "I mean, just look at what happened tonight. He's calling the Captain 'Daddy'! He's so emotionally mixed up, and I would be money on the fact that he's doing it because he doesn't want to be changed back."

Nathan turned to her quickly, surprised at her frustration. "Can't you understand his position, Dr.? Look at where he's coming from, and now it seems like he's got a second chance to have a normal childhood with a parent who loves him. Of course he doesn't want to change back."

"But that's the thing. You're not his parent, not his father, and now he's calling you Daddy. The 16-year-old boy we knew would never have done that. He's losing more of himself every day he remains like this, and encouraging him to continue behaviour like what happened tonight will only make it harder on him when he does change back. We're not doing him any good allowing it."

Nathan could feel his anger building. Why the hell couldn't she understand? He knew that she was just trying to look out for Lucas, to make the upcoming change as easy as it could be, but he felt frustrated at having to defend a little boy to a grown up who should be able to grasp what was happening.

"I may not be his father, biologically or even legally, but he is my son." Bridger said to her with a quiet intensity. "He's acting on instinct, not rationality. His calling me Daddy was innocent. Sometimes you understand things in your heart that your mind cannot even recognize. I cannot ask him not to call me that. I won't."

"I get that, Captain, but it seems like this is an awfully convenient second chance for you as well as Lucas."

"You are way out of line Doctor Smith!" Nathan growled, clenching his fists.

"If you'll pardon me, but I think it would be more helpful to get back to the original topic of the trouble lucas is causing with his actions." Dr. Gravel interrupted. "Regardless of his reasons, Captain, we've got to get a handle on it quickly or else we'll never be able to get this project done."

"Well, we don't know for sure that it's him. I can't ask him, he'd never admit to it. Wendy, you're keeping here for a few days, right?" Bridger asked.

"Yes."

"Well, if nothing happens to the project in that time we'll know. We'll make sure Lucas is never alone so that he never gets the opportunity to get at the project. Anything else?"

Both doctors shook their heads and watch as the Captain turned on his heel and left, heading straight for Lucas. Wendy sighed.

"I totally blew that."

Dr. Gravel patted her on t he shoulder and smiled kindly. "I'm sure he'll forgive you."

--------------------

By the time Lucas woke the next morning it was clear that his ear infection was now an ear infection and a cold. Nathan felt bad for the boy. He had spent most of the morning coughing, which only ended up triggering his gag reflex and Lucas lost his lunch, again. By the point he had thrown up enough times he didn't cry any longer, but Nathan could tell Lucas was exhausted. Between the silence and the listless way he just laid there, it was disconcerting to see. He couldn't even sleep because he kept waking up in a fit of coughing.

"I'm tired of being sick, Cap'in."

"I know your are, kiddo. I'm sorry I can't make it better for you."

"S'ok." It seemed now that Lucas was more himself he was back to being 'Captain'.

Lucas looked miserable lying there in that bed, although he was trying to put on a good show. Picking the boy up, Bridger carried him over to the where he had been sitting and settled back in his chair with Lucas on his lap.

"Is that a little better?" Lucas nodded his head. "Your fever's going down, that's good." Lucas remained quiet, playing with the rings on the Captain's fingers. "Something on your mind, kiddo?" His rings kept turning, but Lucas said nothing. Nathan took a breath and then took the plunge. "How about we talk about last night?" Lucas froze, and the Captain's rings were no longer turning on his fingers.

"I'm sorry I threw up on you Cap'in."

"You don't need to apologize for that, Lucas. I wasn't talking about your being sick. Do you remember what you called me last night, Lucas?"

"No." came the whispered reply. He could feel Lucas trembling, and held him a little closer, rubbing his back. "Well I remember, and I'm sure glad I do."

"Why you glad?"

"Because it made me feel good, special." He paused. "Last night when you were sick, Lucas, you called me Daddy; more than once. Do you remember that now?"

Lucas hid his face in his hands and nodded.

"There's no need to be embarrassed, kiddo. It's ok. I'm just curious as to why you called me that. I want to make sure you're okay."

"I didn't feel good, and I wanted a hug or something. I wanted _you_. And you told me that's what father's do. They pr'tect their kids."

Nathan understood now. Their conversation the other night about how a father is supposed to act apparently had more of an impact on Lucas than he realized.

He set the boy back on the bed and leaned down to meet his eye. "Thank you Lucas. I'm touched you thought of me like that. But just know that you don't have to continue, and you don't have to stop. You can call me whatever you're comfortable with."

Lucas paused thoughtfully, and then looked up at Bridger with a wicked grin. "_Whatever_ I want?"

Bridger couldn't hep but grin back.


	23. 23

Author's note: This chapter is going to take a bit of a different format, with jumps between thoughts and moments and not a lot of linking together. Almost like glimpses of time without seeing the whole thing. I'm doing it this way because I wanted to cover a certain period of time, but if I went into too much detail this story would never bloody end. And eventually it has to. Heck, it should have a while back probably. Oh well. This is the penultimate chapter.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Four days, you're sure?"  
"Positive Captain." Dr. Smith reassured him.  
"So we return here on the morning of the 5th day and we'll be able to turn Lucas back?"  
"Absolutely." Dr. Gravel this time.  
"Well, at least this way we get him out of your hair. Thanks for all the work you two are doing." Turning and looking towards the doorway he picked up his voice a little. "Lucas, you ready?

"Yessir" came the strained reply as the small boy tried to drag their duffel bag across the floor towards the shuttle. "So it's really true? We really get to go to your island for 4 whole days?"  
"Yep, it's really true. We need to do some quick shopping on the mainland first though."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Ok, so we've got you a jacket and a few extra things to wear, you think we need anything else?"  
Lucas shook his head frantically. "This is boooooring Cap'n. I'm tired of walking."  
"We're at the cash now, I just have to pay for all this and then we can find our ferry all right?"

Silence. A quick glance back found Lucas enraptured with some of the stuffed animals in what Nathan referred to as 'the sucker aisle' right by the cash. He watched the boy for a minute, and he just stared wide eyed at the animals, and eventually reached out to stroke the ears of what appeared to be a stuffed cocker spaniel.

"Do want the dog, Lucas?" His voice startled the boy, who snatched his hand back, and looked up at the Captain wide-eyed.  
"I didn't hurt nothin'. My hands are clean!"  
"It's fine Lucas. You seem to like him, do you want to take him with you?"  
Lucas shook his head and went up to the cash. "No, no thank you." Bridger heard him reply.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The rest of the day at the house was hectic. Nathan showed Lucas his room (conveniently chosen as it was right next to his own) and couldn't help but wonder if Lucas would spend even one complete night in it. The neighbours certainly didn't waste any time spotting his presence and making themselves known and welcoming him back. It had been a while. Lucas played shy at first, watching the strangers from the kitchen doorway and then eventually from behind Nathan's legs. It didn't take long for one of the neighbour's teenage sons to charm him with a ball and glove, however, and soon Nathan could hear Lucas' laughter as he sat on the porch with his friends and a few beers.

By the time everyone had eaten, cleaned up and settled around the bonfire Nathan had built in his fire pit, it was nearing 8 o'clock. Turning around he surveyed the small crowd for Lucas, smiling quietly when he spotted him. _That kid really does need to step falling asleep in chairs_.

Bending over he shook Lucas' shoulder slightly. "Hey kiddo. How about we take you to bed?"  
"No I donwannago." Came the muffled reply.  
"Oh, I'm not so sure this is a matter of choice, Lucas." He replied, lifting the boy and the blanket that surrounded him.  
Despite himself, Lucas' arms circled the Captain's neck. Bridger heard the small voice in his ear. "But I'm not tired Daddy."  
Bridger couldn't help but smirk at that. "Dead give away to the opposite Lucas." But his charge was already snoring softly.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When the cry rang out, Nathan was on his feet before Lucas even had a chance to catch his breath. Flipping on the overhead light he sat on the bed and tried to calm Lucas, who was crying so hard he could barely see, although the Captain doubted he would register where he was.

"Lucas." he said, placing his hands on either side of Lucas' face and tilting his head up so he could see his face. Nathan took a moment to wipe the tears of Lucas' face before trying again."Lucas, kiddo, open your eyes and look at me. It's Captain Bridger Lucas."

His breath came in great, hiccuping sobs, but Lucas opened his eyes and looked straight at the Captain, taking only a second to register the older man's face before crawling into his lap and his open arms. After a few moments of rocking the child in his arms, Nathan asked quietly,"Do you think you can go back to sleep now?"

A small head shook vigarously against his shoulder, and small hands grasped his T-shirt even tighter. "Ok, you wait here, I have something that might make it easier. I promise I'll be right back." he stated at the whimpered protest that came when he began to move away.

Sure enough, he was back in the room moments later with his hands behind his back. Sitting back down on the bed he wrapped one arm around Lucas, "Do you think a little bit of company might help?" After seeing the quick nod, he brought the stuffed dog out from around his back and presented it to Lucas.

Lucas wiped his wide eyes and took the toy. "You bought this for me?"  
"Yep"  
"Thank you cap'n," he said, his face hidden in the fur of the animal.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So how did you manage to bang your knee up so well?" Nathan asked as he tried to gently clean the wound with alcohol. Lucas was seated on the toilet, his hands gripping the sides until his small knuckles were white, and his face turned away.

"I was runnin' and I fell."  
"Where were you running?" Silence. "Lucas?" A slight stern edge crept in.  
"The dock."  
"The dock?" Nathan looked up and met Lucas' eye. "I'm sorry Lucas. This is my fault."  
"You're fault? How come?"  
"I thought I was clear when I told you that you were not to run on the dock, but you must not have understood me, right? Because if you did you wouldn't have been running in a place where you could hurt yourself and fall in the water."  
"I understood, Cap'n." came the small, guilty sounding reply.  
"Then why did you disobey me Lucas?"  
"Darwin was there an' I wanted to see 'im." Nathan just raised an eyebrow. Lucas flushed. "I'm sorry, I shouldna done it."  
"No you shouldn't have, and I'm glad you're sorry. But you'll be spending the afternoon in the living room on the couch. And for the rest of our time here you are not to be playing outside alone."  
"But -" Again with the eyebrow.  
"Go to the living room and sit your butt on that couch Mr. Wolenczak."  
"Fine!" the boy slid off the toilet and stomped dramatically out of the room, and flung himself on the couch angrily.

Nathan couldn't hold back the laughter at these pathetic attempt to make a point. Especially when Lucas landed on the couch with a bounce.  
"Don't laugh at me!" came the angry cry.  
Nathan bit the inside of his cheek. "Right. Not laughing."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lucas looked skeptically at his plate.  
"What is this 'gain?"  
"Crab legs."  
"How'm I sposed to eat it, it's all hard and scaly."  
"Here watch me," Bridger said. "You crack the shell like this, and then you dig the meat out with the little fork."

He watched Lucas make a few unsuccessful attempts before taking the boys plate.  
"It is a little hard. I'll take the meat out for you, ok kiddo?"  
"Yep. Thanks."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

He heard the creak of his door open before he saw anything, his eyes not yet adjusted to the dark. By the time they could focus, he could see the small shape huddled in the corner beside his bed.

"Lucas? What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?" He hadn't heard anything, and Lucas has actually managed to get through the night before without one.  
"No."  
"Come out of that corner, come hop up here with me." Bridger patted the mattress.  
Lucas approached the bed but didn't climb on. "I wetted the bed Cap'n" he said into the fur on Goldie (the name he had given the Cocker Spaniel).  
"Ok, that's no problem kiddo. Let's get you cleaned up."

Nathan quickly grabbed a clean set of pyjamas out of lucas' dresser, quietly thankfully he had bought several pairs, and then headed with Lucas to the bathroom. "Full bath or sink and cloth?"Lucas yawned and shivered. "Ah, sink and cloth, I think, kiddo. It's faster."

Crouching down he pulled the bottoms of Lucas' pyjamas to the floor. "Step out, Lucas." Lucas silently obeyed, hanging on to the Captain's shoulder for balance. Nathan could tell he was still half asleep. Even so, any sense of embarrassment at this almost nightly ritual was long gone, and had mostly been on his part anyway. Lucas at his most vulnerable completely trusted the Captain to take care of him and didn't seem to give it a second thought.

Underpants were removed just as quickly, followed by the pyjama top. Poor Lucas shivered. Nathan stood the boy on the toilet seat and filled the sink with warm water. As quickly as he could he wiped Lucas clean, dried him off and dressed him in clean pyjamas. By the time he was done, Lucas was wobbling on his feet.

The mattress could wait till morning, he thought, and headed back to his room with a dry, sleeping Lucas in his arms.


	24. 24

"Are you eating your dinner or just staring at it?" The Captain asked their last night on the island. Lucas just shrugged and turned his for through his mashed potatoes one more time. The boy had been alternately sullen, cranky and clingy all day, not that Bridger could blame him, really. He knew that tomorrow they would return to the Seaquest and return Lucas to his teenaged form.

"Well, if you're finished Lucas, you may be excused."

Lucas slid off the chair, deposited his plate on the cupboard and then stood by the doorway staring at the Captain.

"We gonna do somethin' special tonight?"

"We could, what would you like to do?"

"Can we go down to the beach an' have a bonfire and marshmallows?"

"That sounds like a great idea, kiddo. Why don't you go change into some warmer close while I finish off here?"

oooooooooo

Armed with a blanket and a bag full of drinks and marshmallows, Nathan locked up the house as Lucas launched himself down the porch stairs. They had barely left the yard when he felt Lucas tug at his sleeve. He looked down, one eyebrow raised.

"Um, Cap'in, could you maybe…I mean, could I…" Lucas stumbled over his words and blushed.

"What is it Lucas? Take your time."

He could see the boy ponder for a minute, biting his lower lip, and then he reach up with his arms.

"You wanna be carried?"

A silent nod; more blushing. Nathan took a deep breath. He knew Lucas was perfectly capable of walking down to the beach himself, but he also knew this was the last night Lucas would ask this of him.

"Alright, but you gotta hold the blanket, is that a deal?" He settled Lucas on his hip, and gave the boy one of the blankets to carry, and soon they had reached the beach.

ooooooooooo

A few hours later, the fire was dying and Lucas had eaten his fill of marshmallows and was sleeping in Bridger's lap. The older man probably should have brought the boy to the house an hour ago, but he was enjoying watching the stars and watching his boy. As he stroked the thin blond hair lightly, he remembered their conversation as Lucas was falling asleep.

"I don't want to be changed back." Came the quiet whisper from his legs where Lucas was resting his head.

"I know champ, I know. I'm very sorry for all this, it hasn't been very fair to you."

For a moment Lucas said nothing, and then Nathan felt the boy settle more firmly in his lap and a small hand grasp some his pants in a fist.

"Will you stay with me when they change me back?"

"Absolutely Lucas, absolutely."

ooooooooo

Nathan woke the next morning early, to find Lucas curled up in his bed beside him, and his comm. Unit ringing. _I am way too old to be getting up this early in the morning_. Lucas had been waking around 6 am every morning and the Captain hadn't had much rest.

Padding down to the comm. Unit he answered sleepily, "hello?"

"O'neil and Brody here Captain. Our estimated arrival time to your island is 45 minutes."

"Already?"

"Yessir…you requested we be there at…"

Nathan cut him off. "It's fine Lieutenant. We'll be ready."

Waking Lucas up was like handling a bowl full of jelly. They boy refused to open his eyes and remained a limp, dead weight in the Captain's arms. Finally he had resorted to threatening the boy with depositing him in a freezing shower and that managed to rouse him.

"Are you sure you have everything?"

"Yessir"

"Have you gone to the bathroom."

"Yessir"

"It's going to be okay, Lucas. I promise."

Silence.

"Well, let's go then, the shuttle's waiting for us." With that he took Lucas's hand in his and left the house.

oooooooooo

It hadn't been nearly as long as he had imagined it would be before they docked with the abandoned ship. He had ordered the shuttle straight there, as he didn't see much point in delaying this event any longer. Lucas was suffering enough as it was, and the sooner it was over with, the better.

As they approached the room that held the FOY Nathan could feel Lucas begin to tremble. He took him to stand in front of the machine and knelt in front of him, taking the small boy by the shoulders.

"Remember what I said, Lucas. I promised it would be okay, and I don't make promises lightly. And I don't break them once they're made."

"I know."

"Can I have a hug, champ?" Lucas threw his arms around the Captain's neck, as the older man squeezed him tight. With a kiss to Lucas's forehead, Nathan backed off behind the FOY where Dr. Gavel was waiting. The Dr. waited for a curt nod from Nathan and then he started the machine. In mere seconds the whole experience was over, but he was still left with a rather forlorn looking Lucas standing in the middle of the room.

He approached the teen much like he would approach an injured animal when you're afraid it will flee or attack you. Lucas was blinking rapidly, and Nathan could see his bright blue eyes trying to focus.

"You ok Lucas?" Lucas nodded. "Out loud, please."

With a small roll of his eyes Lucas said quietly, "yeah, I'm fine Cap'n"

Bridger lifted the teen's chin to meet his eyes. "I'm really glad to have you back."

Lucas didn't say anything in return, but he didn't look away. He saw Bridger give him the once over and then frown.

"Is it just me or are you shorter than you were before?"

"Technically I'm taller than before, Cap'n."

"Still a smart aleck, I see. I mean before, before." He qualified, turning to Dr. Gravel.

"It wasn't a perfect result Captain, but it was the best we could do. I'd guess he's physically within a year or two of his chronological age."

"Thank you Doctor," the older man replied. "We're heading back to the boat, I trust you'll make sure this thing is rendered useless so that it doesn't happen to anyone else?"

"Of course Captain."

oooooooooooooooooooo

"You gonna come to the bridge and say Hi to everyone?"

"No, I – I just want to be alone." And without giving the Captain a chance to reply, Lucas jogged off down the corridor. Nathan sighed and began making his way to the bridge.

He gave everyone the run down, informing them of Lucas' status, and even managed to remain there for an hour and a half before he started to pace.

"Jonathan…"

"No problem Captain."

"Thanks"

ooooooooooooooo

_I've gotta start tracking that kid with GPS_, the Captain thought to himself after checking Lucas' room, Mammal engineering, the lab, and the cargo bay empty holds. Nothing. His frustration growing he stomped through to his quarters, the metal door making a solid **thunk** as it hit the wall. He was too surprised to notice it, however, because there was Lucas curled into himself on the spare cot. _Of course he'd come here! _ Lucas didn't notice the Captain's entrance either, as his arms were wrapped around his knees and his head resting on top.

"Lucas?"

The teen looked up, and Bridger was somewhat relieved to see he was dry-eyed, though he still looked distraught.

"How are you holding up?" Lucas just shrugged. "Back to the silent treatment, huh? I'm guessing you're a little mad at me, although you don't really understand why." Lucas nodded vigorously. "I think I can tell you why."

Lucas looked at him expectantly.

"You had a second chance at childhood. It's nice to be taken care of, and be held and hugged and tucked in at night when you're small, and let's face it, it's pretty clear you didn't get much of that your original trip through childhood." That got a small smile out of the boy. "So of course you wanted to stay small, because no matter what, things change as you grow up. We understand why you tried to sabotage the work on the FOY."

Lucas' head snapped up, fear and embarrassment in his eyes, but still not saying anything. Nathan reached out to push his hair out of his eyes.

"I'm guessing it was a little easier before when you didn't know what you were missing, huh?"

Another miserable nod from Lucas. "You want to talk about it?"

When he yet again received no response, the Captain stood up and headed for the door. Turning back he once again said, "Whenever you feel like talking, you can come to me. Any time, champ."

The use of the nickname brought out a small whimper from Lucas, and Bridger paused.

"Do you still want me? To adopt me?"

"Of course Lucas! Why would you ask something like that?"

"I'm not small anymore – usually people don't wanna 'dopt older kids."

"I wasn't looking to adopt just any boy, Lucas, I was looking to adopt you. And that means I'll take you at any age. Even 30!" he joked getting a laugh out of Lucas. "I want you to feel safe, and cared for and happy. And selfishly, I want you with me for as long as you can stand it, and I want to know that no one can take you away from me. And last but not least, because you are my son, and I love you."

Lucas hugged him around his waist so fast and hard he almost fell over.

"I love you, too."

Oooooooooo

OMG it's over. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, and I thank you all immensely for your wonderful reviews!


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